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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865490">Tally Hall's Marvelous Magical Mishaps!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterjamz/pseuds/jesterjamz'>jesterjamz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tally Hall (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Gen, Magic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:01:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>33,451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865490</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterjamz/pseuds/jesterjamz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After forming their band, the 5 members of Tally Hall decide to take a visit to the place that inspired it all: Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. Albeit, this visit is at 4 in the morning and they found some tie necklaces locked away in the storage closet. They tried them on and it caused the boys to become magical girls who have to fight cool villains!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In a museum called Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum was plenty of amazing electronics and robots. A fan of intricate machinery would love this museum, and it was known all throughout the state of Michigan. Everyone and their mom knew about the museum. People loved to come look at all the cool robots and mechanical parts within Marvin’s Marvelous. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>However, the museum has a deep history, and it’s all linked back to a rumor that arose when the museum first opened.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>On display were 5 necklaces with miniature ties on them, all different colors. Red, yellow, green, blue, and gray. Visitors of the museum would walk past the display and feel chills. Eventually, it was removed, but the ties still remain in a storage closet within the museum. Rumor has it that 5 girls would come one day, wear the necklaces, and become heroes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If only they knew that these “heroes” were just some dudes in a fabloo rock band, not cute girls. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was the year of 2021. 5 guys were chilling at a local Arby’s, discussing things. One of them was wearing a dark blue sweater that read “Michigan” on it, with some jeans and some yellow sneakers. His name was Rob Cantor. Rob was a talented dude. He knew how to sing pretty well, as well as play the guitar. The boy next to Rob was wearing a black, button-up shirt with a collar. His pants were red and he wore some brown boots. The boy in the red pants was Joe Hawley.  Joe, like Rob, was a fantastic singer. Next to Joe, was a boy wearing a soft, light blue sweater with a pink heart on it. He wore some lilac, cuffed jeans and some blue shoes. This was Ross Federman, one of the most-liked kids at the University of Michigan. Ross liked to play the drums; he was an amazing drummer. He also enjoyed baking. In fact, Ross was very good at baking. He would bake cupcakes for his friends in the university and for special occasions (like a birthday, or graduation). The dude sitting next to Ross was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves of the shirt being blue. He wore some dark green pants and blue sneakers. On his shirt were a couple of pins: a round, green pin with a music note on it, and a little rectangular pin with piano keys on it. This man was Andrew Horowitz. Andrew is basically a master at the piano. He started playing the piano at the age of 5, and started composing when he was 8. Finally, sitting next to Andrew was a dude wearing a blue hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath it. He wore some long, black pants as well as some blue sneakers. His name? Zubin Sedghi. Zubin, like Joe and Rob, could sing! He could also play the bass pretty well!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>These 5 friends met up to talk about starting a band together. Well, the band had technically already been started. They just hadn’t thought of a name for it. So, Andrew suggested they all go out for lunch at Arby’s while they tried to come up with a name for the band.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ross had written down a couple of ideas the night before to discuss with the group, but one member always found something wrong with the suggestion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I just don’t think people would like a band called ‘So We Are Gamers.’ It just.. doesn’t work.”</p>
<p>“Seriously, Ross? ‘The Beatles’? That’s already a band name!”</p>
<p>“I quite like the name ‘Solid Soda,’ but I don’t think it fits our vibes..”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Deciding on a name for the band was hard. Some suggestions were thrown around outside of Ross’s list as well, such as Partyboobytrap, Toy Orchestra, anonyMous, and more. However, none of them seemed to stick.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But that’s when Zubin had a brilliant idea.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh! Guys! Have you ever been to Marvin’s Marvelous?”</p>
<p>“Well, who hasn’t?” Joe chuckled.</p>
<p>“Well, you guys know about that shopping area place near the museum, right? Tally Hall?”</p>
<p>“I’ve heard of it, yeah.”</p>
<p>“What if - and hear me out - we named the band ‘Tally Hall’? How does that sound?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For once, it seemed like everyone was in agreement to the name. It sounded like it had a ring to it as well. Tally Hall. Yeah, Tally Hall. That name was going to stick for sure. So, the boys finished up their food, paid, and started driving back to their dorm building. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Joe was the oldest in the group, so he was in the driver’s seat. Rob sat in the shotgun seat, browsing Twitter. Andrew, Ross, and Zubin all sat in the back, having a conversation about some TV show or whatever. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“God, I hated that scene so much.” Andrew sighed. “Why would he betray them like that if it costed him his life?!<br/>“I know, right?! And that part where-”</p>
<p>“Oh! Guys!” Ross perked up. “I just got an idea!”</p>
<p>“What is it, Ross?” Rob turned around from his seat to look at the three dudes sitting in the back. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What if all 5 of us went down to Marvin’s Marvelous tomorrow morning and just hung out and had a good time?” Ross suggested. “Ooh, I like the sound of that!” Zubin replied. </p>
<p>“Yea, that sounds fun!” Andrew grinned.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The others agreed to it as well, so it was decided. Tomorrow morning, they’d all go to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum and just have a grand old time. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>However, Ross never mentioned <em> when </em> in the morning they were going.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At 4 in the morning the next day, Andrew, Joe, Rob, and Zubin’s phones all went off at the same time, waking them up. Ross had sent a text to the group chat saying something along the lines of “Guys, wake up. We gotta go to Marvin’s Marvelous.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ross, it’s 4 in the morning.” Joe responded in the group chat. </p>
<p>“Yeah! Which means it’s time to go to the museum!”</p>
<p>“To be fair, Ross never did specify a time, did he?” Andrew questioned.</p>
<p>“No, no he didn’t.” Rob responded.</p>
<p>“Well, I guess we’re going to Marvin’s Marvelous at 4 in the morning.” Zubin texted.</p>
<p>“Joe, do you think you could drive us there please?” Ross requested. </p>
<p>“Fine. But you owe me, Federman.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, the boys got ready to go to Marvin’s Marvelous. They all got dressed, exited their respective dorm rooms, and headed on down to the parking lot where Joe’s car was. Joe arrived at his car first (his dorm is just on the second floor, and he’s mastered the art of speed-running to his car). </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Andrew and Ross showed up to the car at roughly the same time. After that was Zubin, and then finally, Rob. “Are we ready to rock-n-roll, everybody?” Joe asked, hopping into the driver’s seat of the car. “Hell yeah!!” Everyone else said in excitement.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They all hopped in the car as Joe drove them all down to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. Although it was early in the morning, they all seemed to find the drive to Marvin’s Marvelous quite relaxing. The museum was a little bit away from where their dorm building was, it’d be a 30 minute drive in good conditions. And luckily, these were good conditions, because they arrived at the museum at exactly 4:40 am.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Alrighty, we’re here,” Joe announced as he pulled into a parking space up by the entrance to Marvin’s Marvelous. “Are we even sure it’s open at this time, Ross?” Andrew yawned, unbuckling his seat belt and opening up the car door to get out. Ross just shrugged and said, “Eh, probably not.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why would you wake us up at 4 AM to go to Marvin’s Marvelous if it’s not even open?”</p>
<p>“That’s part of the fun, Zubes!”</p>
<p>“I for one can say that breaking and entering is NOT fun.”</p>
<p>“Are you implying that you’ve broken and entered before, Joe?”</p>
<p>“Please don’t refer to ‘breaking and entering’ in the past tense ever again, Rob.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Andrew sighed. “Well, we might as well see if the door’s locked or not.” He walked up to the front door of Marvin’s Marvelous, grabbed the door handle, and pulled on it. To everybody’s surprise, the door opened up. “Hm. Guess it’s not locked,” he muttered, turning toward Ross. “Did you know about this?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ross shook his head and responded, “No! I just assumed it would have been locked and we would have needed to throw Rob at the door to break it open!” “Wait, why ME?” Rob questioned. However, he did not receive an answer because Andrew and Ross had already entered Marvin’s Marvelous. “Come on, guys! Get in here!” And so, the other 3 guys entered the museum and they started their adventure throughout the museum.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, why’d you think the door was unlocked anyway?”</p>
<p>“I dunno. Maybe they just forgot to lock it?”</p>
<p>“Maybe.. or perhaps it was on purpose.”</p>
<p>“You really think they’d leave the door to a museum full of expensive mechanics and electronics <em> unlocked </em>, Andrew?”</p>
<p>“...True.”</p>
<p>“Y’know, with leaving the door unlocked, you would think they would have a security system, right?”</p>
<p>“Yea, like some cameras around the museum would be more than fine for security.”</p>
<p>“Maybe they had security cameras but they don’t use them anymore. Maybe they’re in this storage closet that’s right next to us!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The boys glanced over to their left and saw the storage closet that was next to them. On the door, it read “DO NOT ENTER.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, should we enter?” Joe asked. “Just to see if Zubin’s right about there being old security cameras in there?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It says ‘DO NOT ENTER’ though. Should we really?” Rob questioned, glancing around. Joe shrugged, “Well, we might as well see what’s in here!” Joe reached for the doorknob and opened up the door. To his dismay, there were no security cameras.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What <em> was </em> in the closet, though, was a tiny, wooden box. It was painted yellow, red, gray, green, and blue. “What the hell is this..?” Joe muttered. “That’s a box, Joe.” Rob sighed, walking up to the box. He picked it up and examined it. The box seemed dusty. Very dusty. Almost like it had been sitting there for over 30 years.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That box looks really old..” Andrew pointed out. “Yea, which means we should open it!” Zubin exclaimed, reaching for the box. Rob moved the box away from Zubin’s reach and said, “Zubes, if we’re gonna open this, we need to be calm about it. We don’t wanna break what could potentially be in here.” “Y’know what? That’s fair. Go on ahead, Robby.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Don’t call me Robby, please,” Rob replied, opening up the mysterious box. Inside the box were 5 necklaces, each of which had a tiny miniature tie on them. Each tie had a different color (yellow, red, gray, green, and blue) and they seemed to match the colors on the box they were in as well. “Ok, NOW this is a ‘what the hell is this’ moment.” Rob said.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The other 4 dudes looked in the box as well. “Are these.. necklaces?” Ross asked. “Why would these be locked away in a storage closet?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t know, but… I have the feeling we should put them on.”</p>
<p>“Don’t be stupid! Why would we put on some old, dusty necklaces that we’ve just found?”</p>
<p>“Well, I don’t know! They look nice, I guess.”</p>
<p>“Zubin’s got a point. They do look nice.”</p>
<p>“I guess we can put them on, just for a minute. But then we put these BACK in the closet where they belong. Alright?”</p>
<p>“Alright, fine.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They each grabbed a necklace. Rob grabbed the yellow one, Joe grabbed the red one, Ross grabbed the gray one, and Zubin and Andrew both reached for the blue one, but Zubin got it first so Andrew had to take the green one. They then put on the necklaces at the same time. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Suddenly, a flash of light. The boys were knocked down to the ground, and they were blinded, but only for a second. It was quite scary, but their vision was regained quickly and they weren’t too scared of the flash. However, a glance around at themselves and each other was enough to let out some screams. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“WHAT THE FUC-”</p>
<p>“ROB! YOU’RE WEARING A SKIRT!”</p>
<p>“<em>YOU’RE </em> WEARING A SKIRT, ZUBIN!”</p>
<p>“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!</p>
<p>“I DON’T KNOW!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The members of Tally Hall were now wearing skirts (and actual ties!). Rob’s tie was yellow, and he had a yellow skirt. He wore fingerless gloves, which were also yellow. Joe wore a red tie, with a red, puffy skirt. He also had gloves, but unlike Rob’s, his had fingers. Ross’s tie was gray, and he had a gray, silky skirt. Ross didn’t have any gloves, because he had long sleeves on his shirt, unlike the others, who had shorter sleeves. Andrew’s was green, with a green, multi-layered skirt and short rubber gloves. Zubin had a blue tie, with a skirt similar to Ross’s skirt, except Zubin had a blue skirt instead of Ross’s gray skirt. Zubin’s gloves were also similar to Andrew’s gloves, except his were long and blue. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the HELL did those necklaces do?!” Joe groaned, looking down at his skirt. “I don’t know, but we should probably get outta here before someone sees us like th- oh..”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Andrew was stopped mid-sentence by the sight of someone entering the museum. It was the current owner of Marvin’s Marvelous, Jeremy Yagoda. “Hello..?” Jeremy asked.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jeremy had taken over business at the museum ever since his father, Marvin Yagoda, died back in 2017. “Oh, uh, hey buddy… What brings you here to the museum so early?” Rob chuckled. “Well, uh, I kinda own the place. I was just coming in here to set everything up, but uh, it seems like you five have made your way in and put on those magical tie necklaces.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well, the door WAS unlocked, so- wait, did you say <em> magical? </em>” Joe questioned. “Yes, I said magical, uh, I’ll explain that in a bit.” Jeremy chuckled, turning on the lights in the museum. “Could you explain it now, please?” Ross asked, standing up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jeremy sighed. “Come into the back with me. You explain why you’re here, and I’ll explain the whole… uh… skirt thing.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, the rest of the boys stood up and followed Jeremy into the back. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Explanation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tally Hall finally gets their explanation from Jeremy about the skirts: They're heroes, according to this book in Marvin's Marvelous. They decide to think it over at a new restaurant that opened up recently, Banana Man's Banana Land! However, Joe doesn't seem to trust the owner of this restaurant.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>uh i just wanna note that there is mentions of food in this chapter so uh yea</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, mind telling me who you 5 are?”</p><p>The 5 colorful tie-wearing guys glanced around at each other, waiting for one of the others to start speaking. It was silent for a few seconds, but then Andrew started explaining to get rid of that awkward silence.</p><p>“Well, sir, I’m Andrew. These here with me are Joe, Rob, Ross, and Zubin. We’re friends, and we just recently started a band together: Tally Hall.”</p><p>Jeremy nodded. “Ah. This doesn’t explain why you were in the museum at 4 in the morning though, but congratulations on your band.”</p><p>“Well, thanks, sir! Now, why were we in here at 4 am? Oh, yeah! <em>Someone</em> woke us up at 4 am to come visit Marvin’s Marvelous when I thought we were going <em>later than that</em>.” Andrew explaining, glaring at Ross.</p><p>“Hey! To be fair, I never mentioned a time yesterday!” Ross retaliated.</p><p>“He’s got a point, Andrew.” Rob shrugged.</p><p>Andrew sighed. “True, he’s got a point.” Then, he turned back to Jeremy. “So yeah, that’s why we’re here.”</p><p>The owner of the museum nodded. “Alright. I suppose that makes sense.” Jeremy said, turning around to grab something. “So, uh, what are ya grabbin’ there, buddy?” Joe asked, curious. “I’m grabbing a book,” Jeremy responded, grabbing a large book and placing it down on the table in front of them. The book cover was colored the same way as the box and the ties: yellow, red, gray, green, and blue.</p><p>Jeremy then opened up the book to a certain page. “Is this book supposed to explain why those necklaces put us in skirts?” Zubin questioned. “If it wasn’t supposed to, then why would I grab it?” “Good point.”</p><p>He turned the book around so that the boys could read it. The page Jeremy had turned to had an illustration of 5 ties. The ties were yellow, red, gray, green, and blue. Underneath the drawing of the ties was some text that said <em>“In the future, 5 heroes will emerge to fight the evils that plague this world.”</em></p><p>“This book mentions 5 heroes, and there’s 5 of you,” Jeremy explained. “I think this means you lot <em>are</em> the heroes.”</p><p>The group was taken aback. Heroes? No, they were just some college kids in a band. “Sir, I think you’ve got the wrong people. We’re just college students.” Joe said, looking at the page the book was on. “Well, bud, I don’t decide the fate of heroes. I just own the book.” Jeremy shrugged, closing the book and picking it up. “Might as well accept the fact that you’re heroes now.”</p><p>Jeremy put the book back in its place as Ross spoke up. “If we’re heroes, then where are our weapons? Or do we just use magic?”</p><p>“Don’t be silly, Ross. Magic isn’t r-”</p><p>“Well, actually, it’s both.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Your weapons are formed from magic. How it happens, I don’t know. Prolly somewhere in the book, if I had to guess.”</p><p>Jeremy turned back around to grab the book. “Since you guys are here now, I don’t think I really NEED to keep the book anymore.” He placed the book back on the table and pushed it over to Rob. “You guys can have it. Now, I gotta hurry up and get everythin’ working. This <em>is</em> where I work, after all.</p><p>Rob grabbed the book. Since the book was big, he assumed it’d be heavy, however, it was actually quite light. “Oh, uh, alright then,” Rob said. “Uh, quick question, actually- how do we change back into our regular clothes?”</p><p>“Oh, uh, just tug on your tie a little bit. Only you can change back into your own clothes, so don’t worry about anyone else tuggin’ your tie.”</p><p>“Alright, thanks.”</p><p>The 5 of them pulled on their ties. Poof! They were back to their regular clothes. Jeremy started to exit the room as he said, “Alright, you boys. I’m gonna continue settin’ up for the people coming in today. Y’all better get out before any visitors see you. If you have any questions, just come on back.”</p><p>“Thank you, Mister… uh..”</p><p>“Just call me Jeremy.”</p><p>“Thank you, Jeremy!”</p><p>“Always a pleasure. Have a nice day.”</p><p>So, the boys left Marvin’s Marvelous and hopped back into Joe’s car, now with a book and the fact that they’re supposed to be heroes. At this time, it was probably around 5:10 am. It was still dark out, but the sun would be rising soon. Also, the boys were a bit hungry, so Zubin suggested they go check out that new restaurant that had just opened up recently. It was called “Banana Man’s Banana Land!” or something dumb like that.</p><p>On the drive there, Rob looked down at the book that Jeremy had given him back at Marvin’s Marvelous. He still wondered if that whole hero spiel that Jeremy had gone on was true. “Hey, uh, guys… I’m still thinking about what Jeremy said back at the museum. Do you guys believe it?” Rob asked, flipping through the pages in the book.</p><p>“I’m not sure. It <em>sounded</em> believable enough, and he seems like a trustworthy dude.” Ross replied, browsing Twitter on his phone.</p><p>“I’m not gonna believe it until we can prove that it’s true,” Joe commented.</p><p>“If you want my honest opinion, Rob, I think it might be as true as the sky is blue.” Zubin shrugged.</p><p>“Who knows at this point? If it’s true, I doubt it’ll affect the band that much, right?” Andrew responded.</p><p>“Yeah. You guys are probably right.” Rob sighed, closing the book. “And maybe if it IS real, we can use the evil guys we fight as inspiration for our songs!”</p><p>“Oh, that’s a good idea, actually!” Ross smiled.</p><p>“Hey, thanks, Ross!”</p><p>Joe pulled up into the parking space at Banana Man’s Banana Land and stopped the car. “Welp, we’re here,” Joe said, unbuckling his seat belt. The others also unbuckled their seat beats and hopped out of the car. “I wonder what kind of food they’re gonna have here!” Ross inquired. “Probably bananas, if I had to guess by the name,” Rob said.</p><p>The group entered Banana Man’s Banana Land. “Woah, this place is big.” Ross gasped. The inside of the building (or, the dining area of the building anyway) was super big. All the tables were circle-shaped and yellow, while the chairs looked like bananas. Elevator music was playing and the whole vibe just seemed so relaxful. The walls were painted blue with ocean waves on them, and there was a person at the register wearing a banana costume. He seemed to have a friendly face.</p><p>“So, who’s gonna order?”</p><p>“You, Joe. You’re the oldest.”</p><p>“Yea, you go up and order, Joe!”</p><p>Everyone seemed to want Joe to order since he was the oldest in the group. So, Joe begrudgingly walked up to the register. “Hello, hello! Welcome to Banana Man’s Banana Land! My name is Pim, how may I help you today, sir?” the man in the banana costume asked.</p><p>Joe looked at the menu. Everything on the menu seemed to be banana-themed. They had bananas, banana smoothies, banana nut muffins, banana pudding, and more. You name it, they probably have a banana version of it.</p><p>“Hmm.. I think I’ll get a banana smoothie, some banana nut muffins, two slices of banana bread, and a banana.”</p><p>“Alrighty! Comin’ right up! You go find a seat while I get your food ready for ya!”</p><p>Joe walked back on over to the group and said, “Alright, I ordered. Let’s find a table.”</p><p>“Nice!”</p><p>The boys walked on over to the only 5-person table they could find and sat down as they waited for their food. “This restaurant looks <em>really </em>nice for a restaurant that ONLY sells banana-related foods,” Joe noted, looking around at the walls in the restaurant. “I wonder how much money they had to pay to do this.”</p><p>“It’s a banana restaurant, how much money do you think they would have?”</p><p>“Not a lot, I presume, so this does seem a little suspicious. Not to mention, it seems like we’re the only people in here anyway.”</p><p>“It’s 5 am, of COURSE we’re the only people in here.”</p><p>“...yeah. That’s true.”</p><p>“Zubin, do you know when this restaurant opened up?”</p><p>“Uh, I think it opened up a couple days ago actually. Haven’t seen much business from it, though.”</p><p>“Huh. How’d you find out about it?”</p><p>“Well, I was just driving through town and I saw it. Looked pretty cool.”</p><p>“Weird. Well, I-”</p><p>“Here’s your food, sirs!”</p><p>Pim (the man in the banana costume) had finished preparing the food and had brought it over to the boys. He placed everything that Joe ordered down on the table: a banana smoothie, some banana nut muffins, two slices of banana bread, and a single banana. “Well, thank you, sir!” Andrew grinned. “No problemo! Enjoy your meal, you five!” Pim winked as he walked back to his station.</p><p>The 5 of them started eating the food. Andrew reached for one of the banana nut muffins, Joe grabbed the single banana, Zubin got the banana bread, Ross grabbed the smoothie, and Rob got another one of the banana nut muffins. They started eating the food, and to their surprise, it was actually really good.</p><p>“My god, this food actually slaps!”</p><p>“This is amazing, and I don’t even like bananas that much.”</p><p>“Yea, this is actually super good.”</p><p>The boys continued to eat their breakfast as they conversed, mainly about the whole “hero” thing. Rob had brought in the book that he received from Jeremy, so he placed it on the table. “I think we should look through this book. See if there’s anything important in it.” Rob suggested.</p><p>“Boooring,” Joe groaned. “Why can’t we just eat?”</p><p>“Well, Joe, if Jeremy is right about the whole hero thing, then we’ll need to know a few things before we fight anyone. Rob’s got the right idea.” Andrew stated, taking the final bite of his banana nut muffin. Joe sighed, taking a bite out of his banana. “Fine, I guess we can look through it, whatever.”</p><p>The boys looked through the book as Pim cleaned up his workspace. Pim could overhear the band’s conversation from where he was at, so he was just silently eavesdropping while washing dishes and waiting for more “customers.”</p><p>“...Oh! Here’s the page that tells us how to summon our weapons!” Zubin pointed out. It was indeed the page that explained how to summon their weapons. There was an illustration on the page that showed how to do it in pictures. Below the illustration was some text that said: “To summon your weapon, you must say the following phrase:</p><p>
  <em>Big bad Betty of the 'pocalypse</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She opens her lips &amp; it goes like this</em>
</p><p>
  <em>When the golden rule &amp; the jungle meet</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There'll be nothing to love &amp; there'll be no one to beat</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh the things we know, the things we don't</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The things we think we can will &amp; won't</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We're loath to gather that nothing's left</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We're all together &amp; we're all bereft</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Capitalists &amp; communists</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You did the hokey-pokey &amp; it went like this</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You hate each other &amp; you love yourselves</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It might be heaven &amp; it might be hell</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Oh the things we do</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The things we say</em>
</p><p><em>Oh the things we wish we could wash away</em>.”</p><p>The first part was written in yellow ink, the second part in red, the third in gray, the fourth in green, and the fifth in blue. “Why’s this color-coded? And who’s Betty?” Joe sighed, taking another bite out of his banana.</p><p>“I’m assuming we have to read this out in accordance to our tie colors.” Rob noted. “For example, I have the yellow tie, so I would have to read the first part. You’re the red tie, Joe, so that means you’d read the second part.” “Well, that’s stupid. I still don’t believe that this is real.”</p><p>“Well, if we summon our weapons, will you believe it’s real?” Andrew asked, taking out his wallet.</p><p>“I suppose so. Uh, why are you taking out your wallet?”</p><p>“Well, we gotta pay for the food, don’t we?”</p><p>“I ordered the food, though.”</p><p>“Yeah, that doesn’t mean ya gotta pay.”</p><p>Andrew spun his chair around to face the register where Pim was and said, “Hey, sir! We’re ready to pay!” Pim grinned and walked on over to the group. “Fantastic! That’ll be $17.96!” Andrew took out a $20 dollar bill and handed it over to the man in the banana costume. “Keep the change.” Andrew grinned, putting his wallet back in his pocket.</p><p>“Oh, why thank you! Thank you very much!” Pim smiled, taking the $20 dollar bill. Joe glared at the man in the banana costume. “Say, this place is very fancy for a restaurant with little to no business, wouldn’t you say?” Joe questioned. He was suspicious of Pim.</p><p>“Oh, well, uh, I saved up a lot of money to open up this restaurant!” Pim chuckled.</p><p>“And you didn’t spend any on advertising?”</p><p>“Uhm, I didn’t really.. think… of advertising..”</p><p>“Suspicious.”</p><p>“It’s not suspicious! I just didn’t think about it! That’s all, I swear!”</p><p>“You’re acting awfully defensive now that I’ve called you out on it huh?”</p><p>“Joe, stop harassing the banana dude.”</p><p>“No! His food may be good, but his sickeningly sweet behavior isn’t!”</p><p>“I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, sir. Joe’s just like that. Have a nice day!</p><p>Rob and Zubin had to literally drag Joe out of the restaurant and place him in the back seat of his car. Andrew hopped into the driver’s seat, Rob got into the shotgun seat, and Ross and Zubin sat in the back next to Joe. Andrew started driving back to the dorm building. Rob sighed as he turned to the back to look at Joe. “Joe, are you doing ok?” Rob asked, holding the book.</p><p>“No, I’m not ok! Whoever that banana guy was back at the restaurant was VERY suspicious, and I’m not gonna stand for it!” Joe grunted, sulking in the back seat. “Just try to forget about it for now, alright, Joe?” Andrew requested calmly. “Once we get back to the dorm building, we can try out that whole weapon-summoning thing. Just relax, I’ll put on the radio.” “Alright, fine..”</p><p>So, Andrew put on something on the radio as he continued driving across the road. The rest of the drive after that was void of conversation between the boys, but the music was nice and calming at least. The others were just silently hoping Joe would forget about the man at the banana restaurant. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>thank u for reading :]</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Necklaces, the People, and the Bananas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ross and Rob can't seem to get their tie necklaces off, so they ask Andrew, Zubin, and Joe if they can't get theirs off either. However, their encounter with Joe doesn't seem to end well, not to mention there's been people going missing and bananas being stolen.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>there's more mentions of food in this chapter. there's also implied kidnapping in this chapter too so yea.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Andrew pulled up into the parking lot and stopped the car. “We’re back at the dorm building!” he announced, unbuckling his seat belt. The boys hopped out of the car as Rob asked, “Should we try and do that weapon-summoning thing now, while nobody’s out here to see us?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why bother, though? This whole ‘magic’ thing is bullshit,” Joe groaned, sliding out of the back seat of his car. “Hey! It might be true!” Zubin yawned, stretching. “We should probably do it later, though. I’m still exhausted, and we have classes today, don’t we?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Zubin had a point. Most of the boys had classes that day. “I don’t have classes today but I would like the extra rest. Sorry for waking you all up early this morning,” Ross apologized. “It’s fine, Ross! Just, uh, don’t do it again maybe?” Andrew sighed, stretching. “I mean, unless it’s important. I don’t think going to Marvin’s Marvelous at 4 AM is an emergency, y’know?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s true. Well, see y’all later!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good night! Er, good morning, I suppose?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, the boys headed up to their dorm rooms and went back to sleep. Soon, though, most of them had to wake up a few hours later and go to their college classes. They each had different majors, but that didn’t stop them all from being friends.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross got to sleep in, due to not having classes that day. He awoke around 11 AM, just 30 minutes before Rob’s first class ended. Ross hopped out of bed and glanced down at the tie necklace still on his neck. “Huh. Guess I forgot to take the necklace off!” he chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He reached for the necklace to take it off. However, he couldn’t seem to take the necklace off, no matter how hard he tried. He attempted everything that a person could do to get a necklace off, but it always seemed to fail. He even tried getting a pair of scissors to cut the necklace, but the scissors didn’t even make a dent in it.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, that’s weird. This darn necklace won’t come off.” Ross sighed, glancing at the clock. It was now 11:34 AM. Rob was probably out of class! Ross quickly grabbed his phone and called Rob. The phone rung for a couple seconds. Then, someone answered it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Rob!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hey Ross! What do ya need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, I had a couple questions regarding the necklaces we found at Marvin’s Marvelous. Are you still wearing yours?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m still wearing mine. Tried to take it off, but it just wouldn’t get off of me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mine wouldn’t come off either. I tried EVERYTHING!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Interesting. Maybe it has somethin’ to do with the whole ‘hero’ thing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe.. we’ll have to ask the others about it when they get out of class.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me head over to your dorm room, Ross. My next class doesn’t start until 2. From there we can get the others to see if they still have their necklaces on as well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good idea! I’ll see ya then!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross hung up. He sighed, walking into the main room of his dorm to wait for Rob’s arrival. Until then, he pondered. Were him and his friends actually heroes? The evidence seemed to be pointing toward yes, but if they were heroes, who were they supposed to battle? He thought back to when they were at Marvin’s Marvelous, talking with Jeremy. In that book, it mentioned the ‘evils that plagued this world.’ But what could that mean?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he could think about it any longer, there was a knock on the front door. “Come in!” Ross said. The door opened and there stood Rob, holding the book Jeremy gave him and wearing his necklace. “So. Zubin gets out of class in 10 minutes. We can call him then. Once we’re done talking to Zubin, we can call up Andrew since he gets out of class right about now, and he’d probably want to eat his lunch first before talking to anyone. After that, we’d have to go visit Joe at his dorm since he gets out of class in an hour, and I doubt a phone call would go well with him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, you really thought this through, huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, alrighty then! What do we do for the next 10 minutes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good question. I dunno. We could watch the news, maybe?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, that’s a good idea. Let’s do that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross reached for the TV remote and flicked it on, then turned the channel to the news. The news reporters were sitting at their table, and on the screen it said “BREAKING NEWS: LOCAL RESIDENTS GONE MISSING.” The reporters started speaking. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good afternoon, Michigan! Today we have a peculiar story for you: the disappearance of many citizens. Over the past two days, a few dozen people have gone missing. Investigators have been looking into it, but they haven’t found anything yet.” one of the reporters said. “And it’s not just people, too. Bananas from the local supermarkets have also been reported as stolen. Some people have reported that they’ve seen a couple of the missing people with the bananas, but nobody can be too sure if they’re related or not.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross and Rob listened with confusion. “What the hell?” Ross muttered to himself. The boys looked at each other. “Ross, do you think that maybe Joe was </span>
  <em>
    <span>right</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be suspicious of that banana guy?” Rob asked. “Maybe… but do you really think it was the banana guy?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The bananas are MISSING, Ross! Of course it’s the banana guy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But what about the people? Do you think the banana guy had something to do with the people?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were paying attention to the news, right, Ross? The missing people were reported having some of the bananas!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s true. Ok, so new plan. Once we ask everyone about their necklaces, we go back to the banana restaurant at 5 pm, and we </span>
  <em>
    <span>investigate</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and see if somethin’s up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like a plan, man.” Rob put up two thumbs up as he whipped out his phone. “Now, it’s probably about time we call Zubin now, huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, let’s do that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So, Ross took out his phone and called his good friend Zubin. The phone ringed for a couple seconds. Then, an answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, what’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Zubin!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hey Ross! What’s goin’ on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me and Rob were wondering if you still had your necklace that we got at Marvin’s Marvelous earlier.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, the necklace? Yea, it’s still kinda on. Tried takin’ it off earlier. Didn’t work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We tried to take ours off too, but they won’t budge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Zubin, I’m here too!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Rob!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did he say anything back?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He said hi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Zubin!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok, well you have a nice day, Zubin! And make sure to meet up at that banana restaurant at 5 pm, ok?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, ok, but why-“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross hung up. “So Zubin can’t get his off either.” “Hm. Peculiar. Well, let’s call up Andrew next.” So, Ross scrolled up to Andrew’s contact in his contacts list and called him. The phone rung. A few long seconds later, he answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ross? What are you calling me for right now? I’m eating my lunch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, sorry, Andy. Tried to get you at a time where you weren’t eating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine. What do you want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rob and I here were wondering if you’re still wearing that necklace that we got back at the museum.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea, I still have it on. Couldn’t take it off earlier so I just decided to roll with it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah. We can’t take our necklaces off either. They’re stuck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, enjoy your lunch, Andrew. And make sure to meet up at that banana restaurant at 5 pm! Bye!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross then hung up on Andrew and sat his phone down. “Welp. Andrew can’t get his off either.” “Ah. Guess we just gotta go over to Joe’s then in 40 minutes, huh?” Rob sighed, sitting down on the couch. “Yup. What do you wanna do until then?” “I dunno.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two boys thought about it for a minute. “We could watch some more TV?” Ross suggested, sitting down on the couch. “As long as it’s not the news. I’m fine with that.” Rob responded, stretching. Ross turned on the TV and switched it over to the kids channel. “The kid’s channel? Really, Ross?” “Well, it’s better than the news, isn’t it?” “True.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The kid’s channel was currently playing Paw Patrol. Rob was paying a little attention as to what was going on in the show, but Ross wasn’t. Ross was thinking about something. This thing he was thinking about could change everything. He turned to Rob. “Hey, Rob… do you still have that book?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yea, it’s in my dorm room though. Why do you ask?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is there anything in there that, uh, tells us how to get back in those skirts?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I remember seeing something in there about that. Think it had to do with tugging on the necklaces a little bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should we try and do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean… sure. We could try. If it doesn’t work then I’m gonna have to go back and get the book though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Well, let’s do it, then!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two of them grabbed the ties on their necklaces. Then, they tugged on the ties a little bit, and… poof! Ross and Rob were in their corresponding ties &amp; skirts! “Oh, hey. It worked.” Rob said, looking down at his skirt. “Honestly, I’m not so sure why we were so upset about this at first. This skirt is really comfortable!” Ross smiled, standing up and spinning around in his skirt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, your skirt seems to be made of silk. Of course it’s comfortable.” Rob chuckled. Ross plopped back down into the couch. “Yea, silk is usually pretty comfortable to wear.” Ross looked at the TV. Paw Patrol was still on. It seemed like the episode was almost over. Those dogs had saved the day once again. “So, should we take these things off and start going down to Joe’s dorm? He should be back in around 5 minutes.” Rob asked. “Oh, yea, let’s go do that.” Ross replied. They tugged on their ties to transform back into their regular clothes and exited Ross’s dorm room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross’s room was on the 5th floor of the building, and there was no way the two of them were going to walk down the stairs, so the only way down to the 2nd floor was the elevator. Ross and Rob hopped on an elevator and started their descent down to the 2nd floor of the building. There was nobody else in the elevator when they got in, but as soon as the elevator started moving down, Ross spotted someone- er, something out of the corner of his eye. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It appeared to be a shadow of some kind, but it wasnt Ross’s shadow OR Rob’s shadow. It seemed to be its own creature. Not to mention, the shadow was a three-dimensional shape, not two-dimensional like most shadows are. “Hey, Rob,” Ross whispered, “Do you see that thing next to us?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rob turned around, and sure enough, the shadow dude was just standing there. He whispered back to Ross, “Yeah… when did that thing get on the elevator?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure.. I think it kinda just appeared?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should we try to talk to it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe..”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross turned to face the shadow man in the elevator. It was kinda creepy, but hey, talking to it is better than not talking to it and having the chance of never seeing it again!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Uh, hey-” he started, but at that moment the elevator came to a stop. The door opened up and the shadow man vanished right before Ross’s eyes. “Oh..” Ross sighed. “Hm. Maybe you’ll see the shadow dude another day, Ross.” Rob said, exiting the elevator. “Yeah. Maybe.” Ross replied, also exiting the elevator.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were now on the 2nd floor, and fortunately for them, they didn’t have to look for Joe’s dorm room because they could spot Joe across the hall, trying to get his door unlocked. “Which damn key am I supposed to use?” Joe muttered to himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Joe! Look over here!!” Ross yelled out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe turned around to see Ross and Rob standing there. “Oh, hey guys!” he grinned. “Hey, Joe!” Rob smiled as he and Ross walked on over to him. “So what brings you two down here to the 2nd floor?” Joe chuckled, still trying to unlock his door. “Well, Rob and I had a couple questions for you!” Ross said. “You remember when we found those necklaces back at Marvin’s Marvelous, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe, who was seemingly in a good mood after he saw Ross and Rob, was now in a significantly less good mood now that Ross brought up the necklaces. “Oh. Yeah, I remember. Why?” he groaned. “We were wondering if you still had your necklace on. Ross, Zubin, Andrew, and I can’t get ours off.” Rob explained. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After Rob had said that, Joe glanced left and right down the halls to make sure nobody was there. Then, he muttered, “Yes, mine’s still on. I tried every damn thing to get it off, but it wouldn’t budge. Stupid necklaces…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ross sighed. “So none of us can get our necklaces off then, huh? So maybe they really ARE magic.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Magic isn’t real, Ross! I’ve told you this before!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, maybe it IS real, Joe! The evidence points directly at it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“WHAT evidence?!”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“The necklaces, the skirts, the book that Rob got at the museum! All of it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s probably just some dumb coincidence!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it HAS to be connected!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guys, please don’t-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up, Rob!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t tell Rob to shut up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously, guys. Stop-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ross, you’re not a child anymore. You’re, like, 20 somethin, right? Magic </span>
  <em>
    <span>isn’t real</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Get over it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Joe-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope! I don’t want to hear it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Joe finally found the key he needed to unlock his door, so he unlocked it and entered his room, slamming the door shut as he entered. Ross glanced down at the ground. “C’mon, Ross. Do you wanna go rest for a little bit?” Rob suggested. “Yeah..” Ross sighed. They entered the elevator again and went up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meanwhile, Joe was sulking in his room. He was having a fantastic day up until that argument with Ross. It had completely ruined his mood. Joe never really believed in magic that much when growing up, and he still doesn’t believe in it now. To think that Ross, one of his closest friends, still believed in it was ludicrous. “He’s an adult now. He should act like it,” Joe thought to himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, there was a knock at his door. Joe presumed it was Ross coming to apologize with cupcakes or whatever, despite it not being Ross’s fault. Joe begrudgingly got up to answer the door, only to be met with a lack of Ross Federman there. Instead, he was bonked in the head with a baseball bat. A baseball bat that looked suspiciously similar to a banana… </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Banana Mayhem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ross decides to go apologize to Joe after the argument they had over magic, but when he went down to his dorm, he had gone missing!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>honestly any chapter with pim in it is gonna need a food mention OH YEA ALSO THERES LIKE 5 PARAGRAPHS OF ROSS AND ROB BAKING THAT COUNTS AS FOOD so yea theres food in here. also kidnapping mention again except it kinda actually happens so yea theres a warnin 4 that too ok have fun reading aaaaaaaaaa</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Ross sat at the couch, all wrapped up in cozy blankets and eating some ramen Rob had thrown into the microwave. The TV was on, but only for background noise so that the room wasn’t too silent. Rob was also sitting at the couch, but with a lack of blankets and ramen. That argument with Joe earlier had really done a number on Ross’s mood, and his relationship with Joe as well.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you doing better now, bud?” Rob asked. “I guess…” Ross sighed, finishing up the last of his ramen. “I kinda feel bad about the whole situation, though.. I know it wasn’t my fault, but I feel like I should go apologize to Joe anyway.” “If anything, Joe should be apologizing to </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but if you want to apologize, then go ahead.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gently pushing the blankets off of him, Ross stood up and started walking toward the kitchen. “If we’re going to apologize, then we might as well come with some cupcakes!” Ross said, grabbing some cooking materials such as a mixing bowl, a whisk, and some chocolate cupcake mix. They didn’t have time to bake these from scratch, since Rob had his second class soon. “Rob, could you preheat the oven for me please?” Ross asked politely.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rob entered the kitchen and preheated the oven for Ross. The baking had begun! Ross grabbed some measuring cups and started filling them up with the correct amount of water and vegetable oil while Rob grabbed a couple of eggs to put into the mix. Then, after everything was in the mix, Ross started whisking it all together, humming a tune. As soon as it was mixed thoroughly, Ross asked Rob to grab a cupcake tray for him. Rob did so, opening up a cabinet and grabbing the tray. He set it next to the mixing bowl as Ross grabbed some non-stick spray to spray the tray with. He sprayed the cupcake tray, put in the cupcake liners, and then poured the cupcake batter into their designated spots in the tray. There was still some batter left in the bowl, so Ross would probably have to eat that while it was baking.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rob and Ross both put on oven mitts to stay safe when putting the cupcakes into the oven. Rob opened up the oven as Ross stood to the side holding the tray in his hands. He carefully slid the tray into the oven and once he had successfully done that, Rob shut the oven and put on a timer for 10 minutes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>While waiting for the cupcakes to finish baking, Ross and Rob had a little conversation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...Rob? Do you think Joe feels bad for yelling at me earlier?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course he does. He gets a little mad sometimes, but he always bounces back eventually.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. That’s true. You think he’ll ever believe in magic? In this whole… ‘hero’ thing that’s going on?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe. I feel like he’d only believe it if he sees it for himself.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He already has, though.. with the necklaces. And the skirts.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Joe’s stubborn, Ross. We all know that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He can’t be stubborn forever, though-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Beep! Beep! Beep! </span>
  </em>
  <span>The timer had gone off, and the cupcakes were done. “Well, we can finish this conversation later!” Ross chuckled, opening up the oven and pulling out the cupcakes. He set the cupcakes on the counter and started pulling out some red frosting for decorating with. He started putting the frosting onto each cupcake, swirling it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Soon, the cupcakes were finished! “Nice job, Ross!” Rob grinned. “Thanks!” Ross responded joyfully, grabbing a plastic container to put the cupcakes in. He carefully put each cupcake into the container, one by one, and then put the lid on. “Joe’s gonna love these for sure!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rob glanced at the time. It was 1:35 pm. “Oh, I gotta get to class. See you at the banana restaurant, Ross!” Rob said, rushing out of the room. “Bye, Rob!” The door shut as Ross sighed. “Well, let’s hope Joe hasn’t locked himself in his room,” he muttered, leaving his dorm room. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He entered the elevator and started his descent down to the 2nd floor. There was nobody else in the elevator, not even the shadow man from the last time he was in there. Something felt… not right. Ross had a feeling that something bad might happen. He decided to just brush it off and deliver the cupcakes to Joe. What’s the worst that could happen?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The elevator stopped. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ross hopped out into the 2nd floor. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A couple steps later, he saw the scene. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Joe’s dorm room, open. A baseball bat that looks almost exactly like a banana lay on the floor just a couple inches away from the door. Ross carefully stepped closer and looked into the room. Joe Hawley was nowhere to be seen. “Joe??” Ross stuttered. “Hello?” But there was no response. Joe was missing. Ross glanced down at the banana baseball bat. He put the cupcakes down on the ground and picked up the baseball bat to examine it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A baseball bat… shaped like a banana..?” he muttered. “So Joe was right to be untrustworthy of that banana dude then. We should have trusted him..” Ross dropped the bat and quickly whipped out his phone to call Zubin. Andrew and Rob were both in their respective classes, so Zubin was the only one he </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> call. The phone rang. And then an answer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ross?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zubin! You gotta come to Joe’s dorm, quickly!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh? Why?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He- He’s gone missing!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just hurry up!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ross hung up as he saw Zubin stumble down the stairs down to the 2nd floor. “What the hell do you MEAN Joe’s gone missing?!” Zubin exclaimed. Ross gestured over to the scene that was in front of the both of them. “I came down here to deliver cupcakes to Joe as an apology, but when I got here his door was open and there’s this baseball bat shaped like a banana here. And he’s not in his room either!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A banana-shaped baseball bat?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah… Joe was suspicious of that banana guy back at the restaurant, so I’m starting to think he was right about that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really think that dude would kidnap Joe?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Haven’t you been watching the news, Zubin?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, people have been going missing as of recently, and a lot of bananas are being stolen too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The hell?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know! So it has to be that banana guy!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is this why you wanted to meet back up at the restaurant at 5?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, me and Rob wanted to investigate the matter, but now it seems we gotta go on a rescue mission too.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zubin sighed. “Well, if we’re going on a rescue mission, we’re gonna have to go sooner than 5 PM! When do Andrew and Rob get out of class?” “I think Andrew gets out in 15 minutes, and Rob gets out in 30. We’d need to use Rob’s car to get to the restaurant, since we don’t have Joe’s car keys.” Ross stated. “So then what do we DO for the next 30 minutes?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...I don’t know. I really don’t know.” Ross looked around the area. “Maybe we should make an effort to contact him?” he suggested. “I mean, it probably wouldn’t work, but let’s give it a try.” Zubin replied. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So, Ross opened up his phone and opened up the contacts app. He scrolled down to where Joe was in his contacts and called him. The phone rang. It rang longer than it should have, but eventually there was an answer. “Hello? Joe?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello! ‘Joe’ is currently not available! Please try again later!” a voice responded. It wasn’t Joe’s voice. It did sound familiar, but Ross couldn’t place it. “Who are you? Do you know where Joe is?” Ross asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The voice responded. “I know where he is, but why would I say?” In the background, though, Ross could hear a voice. It was faint, but he could hear it. “Whoever’s calling, if you can hear me, I’m at that banana restaurant!! I-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>The other voice shouted “Shut up!” however Ross already knew who that voice was. It was Joe. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Was that Joe???”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Uh- no- ummmm- I gotta go. Farewell!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The person on the other end hung up on Ross. “Hey, Zubin, do you think we could try and get Andrew and Rob out of class early? Joe seems to be in trouble.” Ross asked. “We can try, but I dunno.” Zubin responded. “Well, it’s worth a shot! You call Rob, and I’ll call Andrew. Ok?” “Ok!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Zubin took out his phone and the both of them called Andrew and Rob respectively. They each told the person they were calling to leave class early and wait outside the dorm building. When they were asked why, they explained that it was to save Joe. That’s all the context they gave before hanging up. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So, should we head down to the parking lot at well?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Probably, yea.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let’s go, then!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ross and Zubin headed down the stairs and exited the building. They waited for a couple minutes. Andrew was the first to show up. He ran up to Ross and Zubin and asked, “Why the hell do we need to save Joe?” “Well, Rob and I made cupcakes to apologize to Joe but when I went down there to deliver them, his dorm room was open and he was nowhere to be seen and there was a banana-shaped baseball bat outside the door.” Ross explained. “Ah. Well, that makes sense.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then, Rob showed up. He pulled up in his car (since that’s what he uses to get himself around most of the time) and rolled down the window. “What’s up with Joe?” he asked, poking his head out of the open car window. “Pretty sure he got kidnapped.” Zubin shrugged. “Now can we get in the car? We gotta get to that banana restaurant.” “Hop on in, sure.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So Ross, Zubin, and Andrew all hopped into Rob’s car. Ross was in the shotgun seat while Zubin and Andrew sat in the back. “Do you think we should get into the skirts now because we might need to?” Ross asked, buckling in. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why though?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, that guy back at Marvin’s Marvelous told us that we’re heroes, and I feel like the skirts have something to do with that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do we get into those skirts again anyway?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“According to the book, you gotta tug on your tie necklace a little bit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The boys pulled on their tie necklaces a little bit, and poof! They were in their skirts once again. “Man. This sure is a skirt, huh?” Andrew said, looking at his skirt. “Yup. They sure are.” “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to that banana restaurant!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rob started driving as fast as he legally could to get to Banana Man’s Banana Land. Everyone in the car was impatient. They had to get there as fast and as soon as possible. Who knows what could be happening to Joe at that very moment?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They soon arrived at the restaurant and quickly hopped out of the car. “Alright, we gotta be quick, but careful. Who knows what could be in here?” Rob warned, stepping to the front door carefully. He reached for the door handle and opened up the door VERY slowly. “Hm. Nothing yet. You guys step in first.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ross entered the restaurant first, then Andrew entered, and then Zubin. Then, Rob entered last, delicately slowing the door so it didn’t make any noise. The dining area of the restaurant was completely void of any people. “There’s nobody in here..” Ross noted. “Nice observation, Ross.” Zubin sighed, looking around for anything suspicious. “They might be in the back area of the restaurant, over there.” Andrew said, pointing at the area where Pim was working when they were at the restaurant earlier that morning. Pim was no longer there, and there was a door beside all of the bananas and banana-themed food sitting there.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, they might be in there. Let’s go check.” Ross whispered, walking over to the door. He opened up the door and was unfortunately greeted with a flight of stairs heading downward. “There’s stairs..” he said. “Well? Go down the stairs!” Zubin grinned, rushing down the stairs. “Zubin! No! Be careful!” Rob groaned, running after him down the steps. Ross and Andrew looked at each other. “Well, should we go after them?” “Yea, but carefully.” “Alright.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They walked down the steps slowly and eventually they caught up with Rob and Zubin, who were standing there at the bottom of the stairs, catching their breath. “Perhaps… Perhaps running down the stairs was a bad idea, huh?” Zubin panted, leaning against the wall. “Yea, ya think? Zubin, this is supposed to be a STEALTH mission.” Rob sighed. “A stealth rescue mission. We have to be fast!” “Fast and SNEAKY.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, this is great and all, but we still gotta save Joe.” Andrew pointed out. “And I think he might be behind this door right here!” There was indeed a door in front of them, at the bottom of the steps. “God, how many doors do we have to open?” “Too many of them. Too many.” Rob reached to open the door, but when he attempted to open it, it wouldn’t open. “Huh. Door’s locked.” he shrugged. “Well, guess we gotta kick down the door then!” Andrew grinned.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Andrew, nO-” Rob tried to stop him, but he was too late as Andrew kicked down the door and the boys were greeted with… an interesting sight. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The room was very big and it was packed with rows and rows of bananas. Well, bananas with legs and arms, anyway. They had no face, they just stood there in the room. In front of the faceless banana people was another banana, however, he turned around to look at who the hell busted down the door and the boys could see this one had a face. In fact, it was the same banana guy that worked at the banana restaurant! The boys had forgotten his name, but they recognized him!</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, what the hell- are you four here to STOP me?” the banana guy sighed. “Well, sir, we just kinda wanna get our friend back-” Ross started. “Your friend? Oh, you mean that ‘Joe’ kid? Are you that guy I was talking to on his phone?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wh- did you STEAL his phone?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course I did. It was being annoying, just RINGING like that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You sound… a lot meaner.. than you did on the phone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, duh! I’m a villain!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...what do you MEAN you’re a villain? And also, what’s your name again?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You forgot my name already? Weren’t you guys here 10 hours ago?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, to be fair, your name was probably very insignificant.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“YOU TAKE THAT BACK! Once I’m done with you, the whole WORLD will know my name!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, you can start by, uh, actually telling us your name.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The banana cleared his throat and started speaking. “Well, my name is Pim! But soon, the WHOLE WORLD will know me as </span>
  <em>
    <span>Banana Man!!!</span>
  </em>
  <span> So, if you could refer to me as ‘Banana Man,’ that’d be just fantastic!” Pim grinned. The boys just stood there in silence. “...Banana Man?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes! Banana Man!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So this explains the banana costume then.” Rob sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This made Pim laugh. “Oh, a COSTUME? That’s hilarious. This isn’t a costume! This is just what I look like!” he explained. “You’re… a banana?” Andrew asked. “Well, kinda. My dad was a banana. My mom was human. I shouldn’t get too detailed about this, though! What I SHOULD go into detail on, however, is my plan to take over capitalism and the WORLD!” Pim chuckled.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry… what?” Rob was confused, and it seemed as though the others were confused as well. “A person- er, a banana - can’t just TAKE over capitalism. That’s not how that works.” Zubin said. “Ah, I take it you guys are confused?” Pim sighed, snapping his fingers. One of the faceless bananas went and grabbed a whiteboard with writing on it and wheeled it on over to Pim, so that he could read it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Pim cleared his throat again and started speaking. “The first part of my plan - which I’ve already accomplished - is to obtain my ‘servants.’ ‘Servants’ in quotation marks because they have free will for the most part. After that, they’ll serve as employees in the restaurant. If they overhear anyone being suspicious about the whole ‘faceless employee’ thing, they’ll seek to it that they’ll never see the light of day again!” He said this with a grin. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“After that, I shall-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have a question!” Ross announced, raising his hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is not the time for questi-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is this why you kidnapped Joe?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Er- I wouldn’t call it kidnapping, per say…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What WOULD you call it, then?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh… BANANAS, ATTACK!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The banana army started rushing toward the boys as Pim fled out of the area. “Hey, by any chance do you think we’d need our </span>
  <em>
    <span>weapons </span>
  </em>
  <span>to win this fight?” Ross asked. “They’re bananas, how strong could they be?” Zubin shrugged, kicking a banana in the face- well, where its face would be if it had one. “Y’know what, that’s fair.” Ross chuckled, elbowing another banana. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One by one, each and every one of those bananas were getting knocked out by the boys. Rob had figured out that unfortunately, you cannot peel the bananas, so he had to resort to using a pencil he found on the ground and stabbed the banana with it. Andrew was picking up bananas and throwing them at other bananas. It was a two-in-one deal, in terms of knocking out sentient faceless bananas. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, all the bananas had been either knocked out or ripped apart. They looked around and saw that Pim had left. “Damn, that banana man escaped.” Rob sighed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You say that like we’re professional heroes, Rob.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, we just beat up a bunch of bananas. I’d call that professional hero work if you ask me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The boys turned around to see who had just said that. It was someone sitting in a chair, legs tied up and presumably so were the arms. Upon closer inspection, it was Joe! “Joe! Are you ok?!” Zubin questioned as the boys ran up to him. “I’m.. fine for the most part. Banana guy wouldn’t shut the hell up though, and my head hurts.” He sighed. “Wait a minute, how’d the hell did you get back in those skirts?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, Rob figured out how. All you gotta do is tug on the little tie necklace thingy.” Andrew explained. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hm. Interesting. Do you guys mind, uh, untying me from this chair, maybe?” Joe asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So, Andrew and Zubin untied Joe’s legs from the chair while Rob untied his arms. Joe hopped out of the chair and stretched. “Jeez, it was uncomfortable in that thing..” He complained, looking at Ross. “Oh, uh, Ross, I actually wanted to, um, apologize about yellin’ at you earlier.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I accept your apology! Funny story, I was actually coming to apologize to YOU and that’s, uh, kinda how we all found out you got kidnapped. Rob and I made you cupcakes and everything!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Heh, well I guess I never woulda been saved if we didn’t have that argument, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What argument?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Eh, I’ll explain later.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Andrew, Rob, Ross, and Zubin pulled on their ties and poof! They were back in their regular clothes again. “Alrighty, now let’s get back home! I’m hoping my cupcakes haven’t been stolen!” Ross chuckled. They all exited the banana restaurant and went home in Rob’s car. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>However, Banana Man hadn’t been defeated yet. But hey, that’s a story for a different chapter! </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A Dude named Steve</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Tally Hall boys finally figure out how to summon their weapons, however a man named Steve Gallagher witnessed it all happen. Now, he wants to join the band, and who knows what'll happen if he doesn't get what he wants?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>content warning for food!!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Proceeding the events of, uh, 30 minutes ago, the boys decided to have a little conversation while in the car. They mainly talked about the whole “being heroes” thing, which Joe has seemed to open up a little bit more about. He still denies the existence of magic, though. So, Rob suggested they actually try to summon their weapons, and he knew the perfect place to do it at.</p>
<p>“Alrighty! We’re here!”</p>
<p>Rob pulled up into the parking space at an abandoned Pizza Hut and parked the car. “Ok, Rob, when you said you knew where we were going to try that weapon summoning thing, I wasn’t expecting it to be at a Pizza Hut.” Zubin said.</p>
<p>“It’s not just any ordinary Pizza Hut, my friend. It’s an <em>abandoned</em> Pizza Hut!”</p>
<p>“HOW does that make it better?”</p>
<p>“It’s abandoned! Who would be residing at an abandoned restaurant?!”</p>
<p>“He’s got a point, Zubin.”</p>
<p>“True.”</p>
<p>The boys unbuckled their seat belts and hopped out of the car as Ross asked, “Do you have that book with you, Rob?” “Yea, I brought it with me cuz I assumed I was gonna be able to look through it after class.” Rob responded, going to the trunk of his car and opening it. There in the trunk sat the book. Rob picked up the book and went back to the others. “Alright, how are we gonna do this?” Rob questioned, holding the book close to his chest.</p>
<p>“Well, first, maybe we should check to see if there’s anyone hiding around-”</p>
<p>“It’s an abandoned Pizza Hut! Who’s gonna be hiding around at an abandoned Pizza Hut?”</p>
<p>“That’s fair.. I guess.”</p>
<p>“I say we should remember what the hell we’re supposed to say! Had somethin’ to do with a ‘Big Bad Betty’ I think?”</p>
<p>Rob opened up the book and flipped to the page that told them how to summon their weapons. “Here it is!” He showed the page to the others. They skimmed through the words a couple times in their head. “Why’s it so long, though? What if we’re in the middle of a battle and we have to just sit here and recite this?” Zubin questioned.</p>
<p>“Well, presumably we’ll be summoning them before the battle, and not in the middle of it.”</p>
<p>“Hm. Fair.”</p>
<p>“Do you think we have to be in the skirts when reading this?”</p>
<p>“I am NOT getting in that skirt again.”</p>
<p>“Well, Joe, you might have to get in the skirt again.”<br/>“Ugh, fine.”</p>
<p>They all pulled on their tie necklaces. Poof! Back in the skirts again. Well, all except for Joe. “So uh.. you gonna get in the skirt or not?” Rob asked. “I.. uh… I don’t know how.” “Oh, you just gotta pull on your tie necklace!” Ross explained, pointing at the tie necklace that was hanging around Joe’s neck. “Oh. Uh, ok, then.”</p>
<p>Joe pulled on his tie necklace, and poof! He was back in his skirt. “I hate this already.” the red-tied man complained. “It’s for the sake of magic, Joe!” “Magic isn’t- y’know what? I’m not having this argument again. Let’s just get this over with.”</p>
<p>Rob started reading the lines in the book, written in yellow ink. “Big Bad Betty of the ‘pocalypse, she opens her lips &amp; it goes like this, when the golden rule &amp; the jungle meet,”</p>
<p>The boys stared at Joe. He was the red tie, so he had to read the next part. “...there’ll be nothing to love &amp; there’ll be no one to beat. Oh, the things we know, the things we don’t, oh the things we think, we can, will, &amp; won’t.”</p>
<p>Next up was Ross. Gray tie, gray ink. “We’re loathed to gather &amp; nothing’s left, we’re all together &amp; we’re all bereft. Capitalists, communists,”</p>
<p>Then, it was Andrew’s turn. He wore the green tie, and so he must read from the green ink. “You did the hokey-pokey &amp; it went like this, you hate each other &amp; you love yourselves, it might be heaven &amp; it might be hell.”</p>
<p>Finally, Zubin’s turn. “Oh the things we do, the things we say, oh the things we wish we could wash away.” It was then silent for a couple seconds. Then..</p>
<p>“HOLY SHIT IT WORKED!”</p>
<p>“YOOOO!”</p>
<p>“Hm. Wasn’t expecting it to actually work.”</p>
<p>The boys stared in awe at their weapons. Rob’s weapon was a guitar axe, without the guitar part. The blade was a light yellow color and it was a little heavy, but not too much. Zubin had a cool wand with a little bass guitar design. It was blue, and it had fake painted-on strings, but it still looked pretty neat.</p>
<p>Andrew got a keytar. It was green, and there were little buttons on it as well, although he had no idea what the buttons were for. Ross’s weapon was a drum set! There were 3 drums, all sat on a silver plate and there were straps on it so he could carry it on his shoulders like a backpack. Except unlike a backpack, the drums were in front of him. He also had a pair of drumsticks (presumably to actually, y’know, play the drums).</p>
<p>Finally, Joe’s weapon was just… a red microphone. Kinda bland, but he seemed ok with it.</p>
<p>“Bro, Rob! You got a goddamn axe!!”<br/>“I don’t even know how to use an axe!”</p>
<p>“Well, you better learn then!”</p>
<p>“Hey, Joe! What weapon did you get?”</p>
<p>“Uh, I got this microphone.”</p>
<p>“A microphone? That’s all?”</p>
<p>“I guess so.”</p>
<p>“That’s a little disappointing, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>“Well, not really. I could fling it around, I guess.”</p>
<p>Joe flung the microphone around in his hand and- fwoop! The microphone seems to have extended into a longer microphone. “What the hell?!” “Well, it’s better than a regular microphone, at least!” Andrew chuckled. “Yea, I guess so.”</p>
<p>“Well, Joe, is magic not real still?” Ross chuckled.</p>
<p>“Hmm.. I suppose that the possibility of magic being real IS there.” Joe sighed, cautiously slinging his long microphone around.</p>
<p>The boys looked up at the sky. The sun had started to set. “We should prolly get back home and relaxed. I’m exhausted.” Zubin yawned. “Yea, good idea. We got a long day tomorrow as well.” Rob said, walking over to the trunk of his car and opening it up. “We could probably throw our weapons in the trunk. Easier than figuring out how to, uh, unsummon them.”</p>
<p>So, they all put their weapons in the trunk of Rob’s car. Joe quickly figured out how to get his microphone to not be long, which is good because it probably wouldn’t fit in the trunk if it was long. “Do you think we’re gonna write some songs tomorrow?” “Yea, sure, we can try and write a song or two! We <em>are </em>a band, after all, aren’t we?”</p>
<p>Rob shut the trunk door and they all got into the car. Rob was in the driver’s seat, Andrew in shotgun, and Joe, Ross, and Zubin sat in the back. As the car drove off, a person entered the parking lot from behind an old car. He seemed to be a college kid, around the same age as Rob, Joe, Ross, Andrew, and Zubin. His hair was a dark blonde/light brown color, and he wore a gray t-shirt, some jeans, and some orange boots.</p>
<p>“So, they’re in a band, huh? And they’ve got magical weapons?” the boy grumbled. “And I wasn’t <em>invited</em> to join this magical band? They’ll pay… oh, they’ll pay for this.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The next day, the boys awoke at roughly the same time. The only one who had classes that day was Ross, so the others decided to go get some breakfast together at the smoothie shop near campus. Rob got a mango smoothie, Joe got a strawberry smoothie, Zubin got a blueberry smoothie, and Andrew got two strawberry-banana smoothies: one for him, and one for Ross once he gets out of classes. The four of them also ordered some apple slices to eat as well.</p>
<p>It was a nice morning. It was 10:28 am and the outside seemed relaxing, so the boys decided to eat their food at one of the outside tables. They sat down, drank their smoothies, and had a little conversation about music.</p>
<p>“So what should our first song be?”</p>
<p>“I dunno. It’s always hard to think of a song topic.”</p>
<p>“It could be about girls?”</p>
<p>“EVERY song is about girls. We can’t do that!”</p>
<p>“Hey, not all of them are about girls! Some are about boys!”</p>
<p>“He’s got a point, Joe.”</p>
<p>The boys were thinking. A couple other ideas were thrown out there, but they didn’t sound good or interesting enough. It was just like when they were trying to choose a name for the band: at least one person had a problem with the suggestion. “Oh, guys! I’ve got an idea! What about-”</p>
<p>“HEY! You four!”</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>A boy stormed up to Rob, Joe, Andrew, and Zubin. His hair was a a mix of dark blonde and light brown, and he was wearing a gray t-shirt, some jeans, and orange boots. He seemed angry at the group, but for what reason? “Uh, may I ask who you are?” Andrew asked.</p>
<p>“My name is Steve Gallagher - but you can just call me Steve - and I would like to join your band!” the boy grinned. “Uh, what-”</p>
<p>“Wait, how do you even KNOW about the band?”</p>
<p>“Oh, uh, I overheard you all talkin’ about it at the abandoned Pizza Hut last night.”</p>
<p>“WHY were you at an abandoned Pizza Hut?”</p>
<p>“Why were YOU?”</p>
<p>“...good point.”</p>
<p>“Wait, did you see the-”</p>
<p>“Of course I saw the skirts. And the weapons.”</p>
<p>“I TOLD you we should have checked to see if there was anyone hiding around at the abandoned Pizza Hut, Rob!”</p>
<p>“Whoopsies.”</p>
<p>“Soooo, can I join the band?”</p>
<p>The boys thought about it for a second. They didn’t really need a 6th member, and also they didn’t really know this guy that well. “Well, what kind of instruments do you play?” Joe asked, taking a bite out of an apple slice.</p>
<p>“Well, uh, I can play the drums!”</p>
<p>“Hm. Anything else?”</p>
<p>“No, that’s it.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, but we kinda already have a drummer.” Andrew explained, finishing the last of his smoothie.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Yea, we already have a-”</p>
<p>“Where are they?”</p>
<p>“He’s in class right now, but-”</p>
<p>“Hey, guys! What’s up?”</p>
<p>Ross had arrived, back from his class. “Oh, hey Steve! What brings you here?” he waved. “Oh, uh, hey.” Steve groaned. “Wait, you two know each other?” Zubin asked, crunching on one of the final apple slices. “Oh, we know each other from our Thursday class!” Ross explained. “Aw, you guys got smoothies without me?”</p>
<p>Andrew grabbed the smoothie that he ordered for Ross and handed it to him. “I knew you’d want one, so I ordered one for you!” “Oh, thanks, Andy!” Ross started drinking his smoothie as Steve sighed. “As I was saying, where’s your drummer?”</p>
<p>“Oh, Ross is the drummer!”<br/>“What?”</p>
<p>“I said Ross is the-”</p>
<p>“No, I heard you. He just doesn’t seem like the type of kid to be a DRUMMER, y’know?”</p>
<p>“Why are we talking about drummers?” Ross asked, reaching for an apple slice and taking a bite out of it.</p>
<p>“Well, this guy here-”</p>
<p>“My name’s STEVE.”</p>
<p>“Steve here was apparently spying on us last night and-”</p>
<p>“I just so happened to be at the abandoned Pizza Hut when you guys were doing your whole magic.. thingy… and I also just so happened to witness all of it.”</p>
<p>“That sounds a little bit like spying, bud.”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s not!”<br/>“Alrighty then, whatever you say. Anyways, so then today while we were eating, Steve showed up and asked to join the band!”</p>
<p>“And you guys are gonna let me join the band, right?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Steve, but we just can’t physically let you join. We already have a drummer, and-”</p>
<p>Steve groaned. “Well, then. If you won’t let me in the band and let me have a cool skirt, then you all are going to PAY!” With that, he turned around and stormed off. Ross, Rob, Andrew, Zubin, and Joe just looked at each other and sighed. “...he wanted in the band because he wanted a skirt?” “I guess so.”</p>
<p>The boys sighed as they finished up their smoothies and apple slices. “So, what did you guys do while I was at class? Besides, y’know, the whole Steve thing.” Ross asked, stretching. “Well, we were trying to think of a song idea, but we couldn’t think of anything good.” Zubin explained. “Hm. Cool.” Ross nodded. “I remember Rob saying somethin’ about basing our songs after the evil dudes we fought.”</p>
<p>“Was that a thing I said?”</p>
<p>“Apparently. Anyways, I was thinking we could make a song about that banana guy from yesterday. What was his name again?”</p>
<p>“I dunno. I forgot.”</p>
<p>“Eh, guess he has a really forgettable name. Anyways, we could make a song about him!”</p>
<p>“I mean, making a song about a real person is kinda weird, don’t you think?”<br/>“Didn’t he say that he wasn’t a human?”</p>
<p>“That’s fair.”</p>
<p>The boys sat there and thought about the concept Ross had proposed for a minute. A song about Banana Man. What would that even be about? Not to mention, they didn’t even get a chance to fight Banana Man themselves. He just ran off as his minions attacked them. Of course, that probably wouldn’t be the last of Banana Man. His restaurant is still open, most likely, so the boys would just have to keep an eye on the news.</p>
<p>“I suppose we could try to write a song about him… but what would that be about?” Joe sighed. “I dunno, but we can think about that later!” Rob said, standing up. “We’re pretty much done with our food at this point, so it might be best to just head out now and just relax.”</p>
<p>They all seemed to be in agreement to that idea, so the boys returned their empty plate &amp; cups back to the smoothie restaurant and they were on their way around town! The streets were lined with different stores and places to visit. As they were walking, they discussed where to go first.</p>
<p>“I say we go visit that new store that opened up recently-”</p>
<p>“Zubin, the last time you told us to go to a new store, Joe ended up getting kidnapped by a banana.”</p>
<p>“Well, I’m pretty sure the new store has a severe lack of evil capitalist bananas.”</p>
<p>“That’s fair. So, what’s the store called?”</p>
<p>“It’s called Walmart!”</p>
<p>The boys just stared at Zubin. “Zubes, Walmart… isn’t new.” Andrew sighed. “Well, yeah, I know that, but this Walmart has a ball pit!”</p>
<p>“Alright, I’m in.”</p>
<p>And so, the boys went to Walmart. What shenanigans will they get up to at the Walmart? Well, that’s for you to find out next chapter!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Heist & A Bid</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tally Hall decides to go to Walmart to visit the local ball pit inside of the Walmart, when a thievery is attempted. The boys have to chase down the thief and retrieve the drums being stolen when they meet an interesting, new, &amp; totally not suspicious individual.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>quick warning: the onceler IS mentioned in this chapter so. beware,</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Woo! Walmart!”</p><p>Ross, Rob, Joe, Zubin, and Andrew had entered the Walmart. It was a big store with lots of things for people to buy. There were aisles with many different types of stuff. The floor was made out of tile, and the ceiling was very high up. There was a sign near the entrance of the store that read “Bananas are currently out of stock, more will be in soon. Sorry for the inconvenience.”</p><p>“Hm. Wonder why that sign’s there.” Ross shrugged sarcastically. The boys started walking around the Walmart together. “So, Zubin, where’s the ball pit?” Rob inquired. “Uh, it should be near the registers, I think,” Zubin replied, pointing to where the registers are. </p><p>They ran on over to the registers and there it was - the ballpit. It was a large ballpit, probably large enough to fit at least 5 people in there. The outside border of the ballpit was very colorful. It was a mix of pink &amp; blue. The inside of the ballpit had, well, balls. The balls were colored yellow, purple, pink, and blue. “Woo! Ballpit!” Andrew exclaimed. </p><p>“Wow. Wasn’t actually expecting there to be a ballpit.”<br/>“Well, I haven’t lied before, haven’t I?”<br/>“That’s fair.”<br/>“So, should we get in?”<br/>“Hell yeah!”</p><p>Ross hopped into the ballpit first. He sat in one of the corners and was playing around with the balls. “What are you waiting for?” he chuckled. “Get in the pit!” </p><p>Andrew hopped in next, diving in feet-first. “Woo!!!” After that, Zubin got in. Then, Rob. And finally, Joe joined the boys in the ballpit as well. “So, now we’re in the ballpit. What do we do next?” Joe asked, picking up one of the balls to examine it. </p><p>“That’s a good question. I dunno.”<br/>“I kinda thought it’d be more fun than this.”<br/>“Yeah.. Not much to do in a ballpit in the middle of a Walmart, huh?”<br/>“Yeah.”</p><p>The boys just sat in the ballpit, submerged in the balls. They sat in silence as they debated what to do next. “Well, uh, these are some pretty nice balls, huh?” “Literally never say that ever again-”</p><p>“ATTENTION, SHOPPERS. A MAN IN AISLE 15 IS CURRENTLY ATTEMPTING TO STEAL AS MANY DRUMS AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE BEWARE, BECAUSE HE LOOKS DANGEROUS.”</p><p>“What the-”<br/>“Why would someone try to steal DRUMS of all things?”<br/>“I don’t know, but we should go check it out.”</p><p>The boys quickly hopped out of the ballpit, pulled on their tie necklaces to get into their skirts (in case it was actually dangerous and they needed to fight), and rushed on over to aisle 15. They slid into the aisle panting as they looked up to see the drum thief. It was a dude with light brown-ish hair. He was wearing an outfit similar to what the boys wore with their skirts, except he was in all black &amp; gray instead of white. He had short sleeves and gray, medium-length rubber gloves, similar to Zubin and Andrew’s gloves. His skirt was a combination of grays and blacks, and he also wore a gray tie. His shoes were red, but toward the bottom of the shoe, it turned gray.</p><p>The thief looked up at the boys. “Oh, great. YOU guys are here.” he snarled.</p><p>“Steve? What the hell are you doing?” Joe chuckled. “And what’s with the get-up?”<br/>“It’s not a get-up! It’s my villain costume!” Steve grinned. “Just like how you guys have your skirts!”<br/>“...villain costume?”<br/>“Yeah! My villain costume! Don’t you like it?”<br/>“Why are you saying villain costume like that?”<br/>“What? Like villain costume?”<br/>“Yeah. Why?”<br/>“It’s cool! It adds pizazz to the whole shtick!” </p><p>The boys just all kinda looked at each other and sighed. “Steve, why in the WORLD are you trying to steal drums?” Rob asked. “Well, why would I tell YOU?” Steve scoffed. “Every villain tends to go on a whole speech &amp; a half about their evil and diabolical plans! But I’ll be the first to end that!”</p><p>“Look, Steve, just… don’t steal shit? We already have too many things to deal with anyway. That banana guy, school, writing songs-”<br/>“Sounds boring. I’m out!”</p><p>Steve then started to run off with the drums he had. “Hey! Get back here!!” Joe shouted, chasing after him. “Joe- wait up!!” </p><p>The others were running after Joe as Joe chased after Steve, who was holding 3 drums in his arms. Steve turned around to run down a different aisle, and naturally, so did Joe and the others. “Get back here and return those drums RIGHT NOW!” the red-tied man yelled. It didn’t seem like Steve was stopping any time soon, though. </p><p>Steve grabbed a few, small objects from the shelves in the aisle and chucked them at the boys to slow them down. In the process, he had accidentally dropped one of the drums, so in a sense, Steve had been slowed down too. As Steve crouched down to pick up the fallen drum, Joe grabbed one of the objects that had been thrown at him and threw it directly at Steve. “Take THAT!”</p><p>“OUCH!”</p><p>“Give it up, Steve. Return the drums now.” Joe groaned. Steve rolled his eyes and said, “Fine, but just you wait- uh, what’s your band name?”<br/>“Tally Hall.”<br/>“Right, thanks. Just you wait, Tally Hall! I’ll be back, and worse than ever! Mwahahahaha!!” Steve then set the drums down on the floor and ran out of the Walmart. The boys glanced at each other and sighed. “Well, at least he returned the drums.”<br/>Rob, Ross, and Zubin picked up each of the drums and they all started walking toward where Steve stole the drums when they heard a voice from across the aisle. </p><p>“HEY! You five over there! Come here!!”</p><p>The boys sighed. “Well, might as well.” They walked on over to the person. He seemed to wear a lot of purple. Like, a LOT of purple. He wore a purple top hat with a little bow tied around it. Their suit was purple as well, as well as their pants &amp; shoes. His skin was a light blue &amp; his eyes were pure white, which seemed to be the only thing about this stranger that wasn’t purple.</p><p>“Well, howdy there gentlemen! I am the-”<br/>“Are you the Onceler but purple?”<br/>“What th- no??”<br/>“You look like the Onceler.”<br/>“Yea, he does kinda look like the Onceler.”<br/>“I’m not the Onceler.. ANYWAYS! I’m the Auctioneer!”<br/>“That’s a stupid name-”<br/>“Will you be quiet and let me finish my sentence PLEASE?!”<br/>“No.”</p><p>The Auctioneer groaned and continued speaking. “Anyways! Those are some very nice drums you boys have there!” He grinned, snatching a drum out of Ross’s hands. “Hey, give that back-” “You boys wouldn’t mind if I put these up for a bid, right?”</p><p>“I mean… these drums aren’t ours, but-”<br/>“So I can take them?”<br/>“We were just returning them to their original spot since someone tried to steal them.”<br/>“Aha, thievery is never good!”<br/>“Yea, so you can’t have the drums, sorry-”<br/>“Can I BUY the drums from you?”<br/>“We don’t own these!!! No!!”</p><p>The Auctioneer let out a sigh. “Oh, well! T’was worth a shot!” <br/>“Sir, you realize you can still buy the drums, right? You can’t just buy them from us.”<br/>“I can?”</p><p>The boys sighed. “Yes, you can. Just bring it up to the cashier, they’ll ring it up.” Andrew explained, pointing toward the cash register. “Ah, well thank you, sirs! I’ll be on my way now! Toodles!” The Auctioneer grinned, skipping on over to the cash register. The boys simply just looked at each other and sighed. “Well, let’s just hope he doesn’t do anything nefarious with that drum.”</p><p>They walked out of the Walmart and started walking back to their dorm building. “That sure was an experience, huh?” “It sure was- hey, we should probably change out of these skirts, huh?” “Oh, yea, probably!” All 5 of them pulled on their ties, and poof! Back to their regular clothes, they were.</p><p>There wasn’t much to talk about on the walk back to the dorm building. The boys have had an… interesting last couple of days. They would have to go back to Marvin’s Marvelous sooner or later to tell Jeremy about the events that have happened. Marvin’s Marvelous is a pretty busy place, though. It would be bad if a customer would over-hear them talking about, y’know, the whole “hero” thing.</p><p>They arrived back at the dorm building. “Well, we’re back!” Joe sighed, stretching. “Next time we go anywhere, let’s take the car. I’m exhausted!” “Agreed-”</p><p>“Oh, hey guys! Do you wanna go visit Marvin’s Marvelous tomorrow and talk to that guy who gave us the book? What was his name again.. Jamey??? Jermy??”<br/>“Jeremy.”<br/>“Jeremy! That’s it! Anyways, we should go visit him, and maybe tell him about that banana guy.”<br/>“Well, Ross, last time you told us to go visit Marvin’s Marvelous, you woke us up at FOUR IN THE MORNING.”<br/>“Well, this time it’s gonna be at a more reasonable time! Let’s discuss!”</p><p>And so, the boys discussed when a rational time to go to the museum would be. Anything before 2 pm was off-limits because all 5 of them had classes that day. The final class (Andrew’s) ended at 2 pm, so anything after that was fair game. They had to come up with a time where not a lot of people would be at the museum. “Do any of you guys know when the museum closes?” Rob asked. “Uh, I think it closes around 9 pm,” Zubin responded. </p><p>“Alrighty, so the ideal time to go to Marvin’s Marvelous would be around 8 or 8:30 pm, then,” Joe said. “So, 8:15 would be the best possible time then?” Ross questioned. “I suppose so.” Andrew shrugged. “I wanna go take a nap, though. See y’all tomorrow!” he waved, walking inside the dorm building. “Why are you saying goodbye if we’re all going into the same building?”</p><p>So, the boys entered the dorm building, entered their respective rooms, and prepared themself… for tomorrow.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Back At the Museum</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tally Hall decides to visit Marvin's Marvelous once again! What could go wrong?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>cw for food and a slight kidnapping mention</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A boy- y’know what, I need to stop doing these dramatic introductions for this guy. Steve Gallagher stretched as he glared at the entrance to the dorm building. He sighed and muttered to himself, “Marvin’s Marvelous, eh? Well, I suppose they’ll have an extra guest there tomorrow night!” Steve chuckled to himself, walking away from the area.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Tomorrow had come, and the boys were on their way to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. It was 8:13 pm, the sun was setting, and everything seemed calm. Music was playing on the radio. Joe was in the driver’s seat, since it was his car. Rob was in the passenger’s seat, holding the book Jeremy had given them just a few days earlier. Andrew, Zubin, and Ross sat in the back, and all 5 of them were having a nice conversation about trees.</p><p>“...but evergreen trees don’t turn orange and red like the other trees do.”<br/>“That’s why they’re called evergreens! Because they stay green forever!”<br/>“Oh, well that makes a lot of sense.”<br/>“I think palm trees stay green too.”<br/>“Palm trees are at beaches and stuff, like Hawaii. I don’t think they celebrate fall in Hawaii.”<br/>“You can’t just.. NOT celebrate a season. Fall’s an important part of the season ecosystem!”<br/>“I mean, we could probably look it up.”<br/>“Probably- oh hey, we’re here!”</p><p>Joe drove into a parking space at Marvin’s Marvelous and parked the car. The time was now 8:15 pm, exactly what the boys had agreed to the day before. Most of the cars were gone at that point; only two other cars were parked at the parking lot. As the boys unbuckled their seat belts and hopped out of the car, they saw someone in a gray t-shirt entering the building.</p><p>“Huh? Who would be going into the museum so close to closing time?” Ross questioned, curious. “I dunno,” Zubin shrugged. “Maybe they just enjoy mechanical objects later in the day, I suppose- wait a minute.. that gray t-shirt seems familiar…”</p><p>“What do you mean?”<br/>“Do you think… maybe-”<br/>“There’s NO way it’s Steve.”<br/>“It’s gotta be Steve! Who else do you see around campus with a gray t-shirt? Not to mention, those shoes were bright orange! Steve’s the only kid on campus with orange boots like that!”<br/>“Maybe it’s someone pretending to be Steve!”<br/>“Who would wanna pretend to be Steve?!”<br/>“I don’t know! Uh- you actually have a good point. Who WOULD wanna pretend to be Steve?”<br/>“I don’t know- oh, c’mon! Let’s just get in the museum!”</p><p>So, the boys entered Marvin’s Marvelous quietly to see what was going on. The dude in the gray t-shirt seemed to be talking to Jeremy, who was standing there trying to clean up for the day.</p><p>“...how do you even KNOW about the skirts in the first place?”<br/>“I saw them pull on their necklace thingies and get into those skirts! I demand a skirt!”<br/>“L-Look, sir, I don’t have any control over who gets a necklace and a skirt. That’s decided by fate, buddy-”<br/>“Well, fate decided WRONG, then! Give me a necklace!”<br/>“But there’s only 5 necklaces, and those kids already have them-”<br/>“I don’t care-”</p><p>“What the hell’s going on here?” Joe interrupted the conversation. Jeremy and Steve turned around to look at the 5 boys standing at the entrance to the museum. “Oh, uh, hey guys.” Jeremy waved.</p><p>“Hey. I presume Steve found you, huh?” Ross sighed.</p><p>“HEY! It’s not MY fault you guys talk about this stuff in public!”<br/>“It was as private as it could be,” Rob sighed. “Not to mention, it’s not our fault we don’t know when you’re spying on us, Steve.”<br/>“Well, stop being spyable then!”<br/>“That’s not a word!”<br/>“It is now!”</p><p>Jeremy sighed. “Look, Steve - if that’s your actual name - just… please leave. I’m trying to clean the place up before closing time and-”</p><p>Steve stormed out of the building without another word, but before he left, he spun around and said, “Mark my words, Tally Hall - you’re going DOWN! Down, down, down!” After saying that, he exited the building. The boys and Jeremy glanced at each other and sighed.</p><p>“Well, what do you 5 want?” Jeremy asked, immediately going back to cleaning something. “We just wanted to check up on you and tell you how we were doin’, in terms of, y’know, hero stuff.” Rob explained. “We even brought the book!” Zubin grinned, pointing to the book in Rob’s hands. “Hm, nice. So what’s happened since I’ve last saw you 5?”</p><p>“Well, there’s this new banana restaurant that opened up recently called ‘Banana Man’s Banana Land,’ and it turns out that the owner of the restaurant wants to take over capitalism and he also kidnapped Joe so we had to sneak in and fight his minions to save Joe.”</p><p>Jeremy just stared at the boys. “Damn. Well, did you at least figure out how to summon your weapons?”</p><p>“Yea, but it takes a hell of a long time to do so.”<br/>“Yeah, I wish there was a shorter way to do that.”<br/>“Hm. I think there might be a way. Let me see the book.”</p><p>So, Rob handed Jeremy the book. He flipped through it, looking for a certain page. “Aha, here it is!” Jeremy landed on the page and showed it to Rob, Ross, Andrew, Zubin, &amp; Joe. “If you’re in a hurry, there’s a shorter phrase that can be said to obtain your weapons.”</p><p>The boys looked at the phrase. It read:</p><p>“I know a lady, Good &amp; Evil, showed me that I was a gentleman.</p><p>Wait for the girl to blossom into colors that grow where you can.”</p><p>Jeremy continued speaking, “If you all want your weapons, you’ll have to say this phrase at the same time together. If only one of you needs a weapon, you can just say it alone. Do y’all wanna try it out right now?”</p><p>The boys looked at each other. “I mean… sure? It wouldn’t hurt, I guess.” Rob shrugged. The others seemed to agree with Rob, and so they looked at the book and began reading.</p><p>“I know a lady, Good &amp; Evil, showed me that I was a gentleman. Wait for the girl to blossom into colors that grow where you can..”</p><p>It wasn’t in perfect sync, but that’s just how things go when you’re trying to read something together most of the time. However, that didn’t seem to matter because in each of their hands was their designated weapon. Rob had his axe, Joe had his microphone, Ross had his drumset, Andrew had his keytar, and Zubin had his wand. “Hey, it worked!” They chuckled.</p><p>“Yup, so now y’all’ve got a quicker way to get your weapons out in a hurry.” Jeremy yawned. “Have a nice night, I need to finish cleaning up before I pass out.” “Goodnight!” the boys waved, exiting the museum with a grin on their mouth and their weapons in hand.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>It was dark in the building, but then again, the man- er, the banana was around 10 feet underground in a basement underneath his restaurant. He was scribbling something on an empty page in one of those coloring books for children. The banana set down his crayon and grinned. “Aha! The perfect plan for defeating those skirted fools! Is skirted a word? It is now!” Pim laughed to himself for a solid minute or two.</p><p>After that, he calmed himself down a bit, and snapped his fingers twice. 7 of his banana minions entered the room, all in-sync with each other, and although they didn’t have faces, it seemed like they were all looking directly at Pim. “ALRIGHTY! I have a plan!” the banana announced.</p><p>He hopped down to where the other bananas were standing and he started whispering to them. After he had finished whispering his plan to the bananas, Pim cleared his throat and boldly said: “Now, go tell the others and TAKE OVER THIS CITY!” The bananas seemed to nod, and then rushed off to wherever the other banana minions were residing. Pim chuckled to himself once again. “Once those boys are gone, then the WORLD will be run by me~! Mwahahahaha!!”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Beep! Beep! Beep! Bee-</p><p>“Ugh..” Zubin groaned, turning in his bed and turning off his alarm clock. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the time. “Oh shit, 7 AM! I’m gonna be late for- wait, I don’t have classes today.” He sighed, getting out of bed. “Well, might as well get up anyway. Wonder what’s on the news.” Zubin stretched and walked into the main room of his dorm. He turned on the TV as he started brewing himself some coffee.</p><p>“Good Thursday morning, residents of Michigan! Today’s story is quite the interesting one: starting at 3:47 AM last night, people have spotted human-sized bananas walking around the city. Most of them seem to not be doing much harm, but others have reported that the bananas have broken into homes &amp; buildings. We recommend you don’t go out today, &amp; lock your doors, but if you must then please stay safe.”</p><p>“...what?”</p><p>Zubin just stared at the TV. Bananas? Walking around the city? Well, based on past encounters, Zubin could only recall one person- er, banana who could be behind this. The banana whose name nobody could remember. He did prefer to be called ‘Banana Man,’ however, so it’s probably fine that they didn’t remember. Zubin rushed back into his bedroom, grabbed his phone, and started texting the group chat.</p><p>“Guys. Guys wake up. It’s important.”<br/>“What is it, Zubin? It’s 7 AM!”<br/>“According to the news, there are bananas roaming around town.”<br/>“What the fuck?”<br/>“What do you MEAN there’s bananas roaming around town?!”<br/>“Look, I don’t know! But that’s what the news said!”<br/>“What else did the news say?”<br/>“It said to stay inside &amp; if we did go outside, stay safe.”<br/>“Well, fuck the news! I’m heading up to your dorm, Zubes!”<br/>“Well, that’s technically not going outside, so I’ll come up too.”<br/>“Yea, same here.”</p><p>Zubin sat down his phone and sighed. “Welp. Guess the boys are coming- OH SHIT, MY COFFEE!” He rushed back to the main room and checked on the coffee machine. Luckily, he had gotten back just in time because the machine had just started to fill up his mug with coffee. Well, he had nothin’ else to do while he waited for his friends to show up anyway. So, Zubin stood there and watched as the mug got filled up with coffee.</p><p>After a good 10 seconds of waiting, the mug had been filled with coffee. Not too much coffee, Zubin didn’t want to accidentally spill the coffee all over himself, &amp; not too little coffee, he needed the perfect amount of coffee to wake himself up, and maybe forget about that banana situation. He grabbed the mug by the handle and took a sip of coffee. “Ah. The package wasn’t lying, that coffee sure does taste, huh?”</p><p>There was a knock at the door. Zubin set down his coffee and went to go answer the door. He opened it up &amp; there stood Rob Cantor, Joe Hawley, &amp; Andrew Horowitz. “Hey, Zubes!” Andrew grinned. “Yo, what’s up? And where’s Ross?”</p><p>“Ah, Ross is in class right now, I think.”<br/>“Really? This early?”<br/>“Either that or he’s sleeping in late, heh.”</p><p>The other 3 boys entered the dorm room. It was a little messy, but in a somewhat organized kind of way. Just like most dorm rooms. “So what’s this about bananas roaming the city, or whatever?” Joe chuckled, hopping onto the couch.</p><p>“Well, I woke up, started making some coffee, and turned on the news,” Zubin started, going back to grab his cup of coffee. “and the news reporter was talking about bananas roaming the streets. Some of them have even broken into houses &amp; buildings.”</p><p>He took a sip of his coffee as Rob asked, “Do you think that Banana Man is up to this?”</p><p>“I think so.. I can’t really think of anyone else who WOULD be behind, yknow, BANANAS being around town of all things.”<br/>“Well, let’s go beat the shit outta that banana then!-”<br/>“We can’t just beat him out right NOW! We’d have to make our way over to the restaurant, and I don’t think it’s that safe for driving right now.”<br/>“Let me look then!”</p><p>Joe got off of the couch, walked up to the window, and looked out of it. The others crowded around him to look as well. The whole street was filled with faceless bananas, seemingly mindlessly walking around. They could spot a few bananas breaking &amp; entering into some of the houses and buildings around the area.</p><p>“Oh, what the hell?!”<br/>“Do you think there’s any bananas in our dorm building right now??”<br/>“Of course not, Andy-”<br/>“I mean, there COULD be. But we’d never know because, y’know, we’re in my dorm room.”<br/>“I just got an idea!”</p><p>The others turned toward Rob. “Yea?”</p><p>“I say we get out our weapons and go slice those bananas in half!” Rob said with a grin on his face. Andrew and Zubin glanced at each other as Joe sighed. “I mean, do we really have to-” “Look, we haven’t gotten to use our weapons yet, and now’s the perfect opportunity for it!” Rob explained. “Alright, fine, let’s just do it.” Joe groaned. The boys cleared out their throats and started speaking.</p><p>“I know a lady, Good &amp; Evil, showed me that I was a gentleman. Wait for the girl to blossom into colors that grow where you can…”</p><p>In an instant, the boys had their weapons once again.</p><p>“That is SO much easier than that other way to summon them. Holy shit.”<br/>“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go kick some banana ass!!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Banana Strike Back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tally Hall find themselves in a bit of a sticky situation when they awake to the whole town being flooded with sentient, faceless bananas! Will they be able to defeat them, or will they too become one of the bananas?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>uhuhhh theres a kidnapping mention uhhhhhhhh food mention theres violence uh thats all i can think of. be warned!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was dark &amp; gloomy outside, despite the fact that it was only 7:15 in the morning. Perhaps it was going to rain, perhaps not. However, the air felt nice outside. Although Ross did feel a lingering feeling around him, like something bad was going to happen. He looked up from his phone (he was browsing Twitter) and glanced around for a second. It didn’t take long for him to realize that something was… off.</p><p>It didn’t matter where he looked, bananas were everywhere. Bananas awfully similar to the ones he &amp; the others had to fight back at the banana restaurant. “Huh. That’s… weird.” Ross muttered, continuing to walk to his class. The rest of the walk to class was like this. Ross would look at Twitter, &amp; the bananas were everywhere. Some of the bananas tried to get a grasp on Ross, but he would just kick them away, groan, &amp; continue his walk to class.</p><p>The time it took for Ross to arrive to class took 5 minutes later than it usually did, but upon entering the classroom, there was a surprising lack of people. He looked at the floor. A couple of those bananas from earlier were laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. In the corner of the room was Steve Gallagher, wielding one of those squeaky hammer toys in his hands. The hammer was painted gray &amp; black, &amp; the actual hammer part of the squeaky hammer had yellow, red, light gray, green &amp; blue triangles painted on. He was balled up in the corner of the classroom, &amp; he seemed to be scared.</p><p>“...Steve?” Ross questioned with a soft voice, carefully walking one step closer to get a better look at him.</p><p>“Ross? Ross! Oh, thank god you’re here! I-”<br/>“Are you holding a kid’s toy?”<br/>“What?! Uh- no! It’s my evil supervillain weapon, obviously!”<br/>“It looks like one of those squeaky hammers that kids use.”<br/>“Well, I- uh… ANYWAYS! Do you and your magical band twerps know where the HELL these things came from?”<br/>“I’m… not sure, actually. My guess would probably be Banana Man, seeing as how-”<br/>“WHO THE FUCK IS BANANA MAN?!”<br/>“Oh, uh, it’s a long story.”<br/>“That’s fair. I guess.”</p><p>Steve stood up, stretched, &amp; looked around the room. “So, where’s everyone else, anyway?” Ross asked.</p><p>“Uh, I dunno.” Steve shrugged. “I showed up to class and there were just these banana guys here. And then they started attacking me!”<br/>“Man. I got harassed by a few of them when I was walking to class as well, but it wasn’t that bad. There were a TON of them, though.”<br/>“How much are there anyway?”</p><p>The two boys looked out of the classroom window. The bananas were all in the streets, &amp; a few lingered on the pavement. “What the hell?! There weren’t THAT many when I was coming here” Steve gasped, stepping back with his hammer in hand. “My guess is that they probably have some way to multiply.. or even worse, turn other people INTO bananas.” Ross sighed, pulling on his necklace. “Our best bet on getting rid of them is to fight them.”</p><p>“FIGHT THEM?! The bananas I fought were strong, what do you MEAN fight them-”<br/>“Sir, you’re wielding a kid’s toy. Of course they’re strong to you.”<br/>“Shut the hell up!”<br/>“Nah,” Ross chuckled. “Hold on, let me get my weapon out.”</p><p>The gray-tied boy cleared his throat and started speaking. “I know a lady, Good &amp; Evil, showed me that I was a gentleman. Wait for the girl to blossom into colors that grow where you can..”</p><p>Ross was back to having his weapon once again! It was a bit heavy, seeing as how it was a whole drumset strapped to the front of him, but he could probably figure out how to use it! Steve just glared at Ross and asked, “How the hell are you gonna fight with THAT?!”</p><p>“I’ll figure it out! C’mon, lets go!”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>“Hi-YAH!” Rob chuckled, slicing a banana in half with his guitar axe.</p><p>Rob, Zubin, Andrew, &amp; Joe were in the halls of the 7th floor of the dorm building, and they were on a mission to get to the elevator, and destroy any bananas that were in their way. What they were going to do once in the elevator, the boys had no idea. Perhaps they would make their way to Banana Man’s Banana Land. Or maybe they’d figure out where the hell Ross is.</p><p>Most of the bananas in the hall had been cleared out for the most part anyway. There were about 5 or 6 still lingering around the halls, but they didn’t seem to be of any threat to the boys as of right now. “Well, the bananas seem to be taken care of!” Zubin grinned. “For this floor, anyway.” Rob noted, walking over to the elevator. “Chances are there’ll probably be on every floor. Hopefully not in the elevator itself, though.” “Yea, that’s true.”</p><p>The others walked over to the elevator as well. Rob pushed a button, &amp; the doors opened. The four of them entered the elevator, &amp; selected to go down to the main floor. The doors closed up, &amp; they started their descent down.</p><p>It was silent in the elevator, but the whole town was quite possibly filled with these sentient bananas, so there wasn’t much to talk about besides that, and the boys had already talked enough about that. However, there was something else to talk about. Rob was glancing around the area when he noticed a shadowy figure - the same one that he and Ross had noticed in the elevator a few days ago. “Oh, that thing’s back..” he muttered.</p><p>“What thing?” Joe asked, as the other three looked at the shadow figure. “Oh, what the hell is that-” he stepped away from the shadow in fear. “I… don’t know,” Rob explained. “Ross &amp; I saw it the other day in this exact same elevator. We tried talking to it, but we didn’t get a chance to before the elevator landed.”</p><p>“Well, talk to that thing now! Or anybody else that isn’t me!”<br/>“What, are you scared of the shadow being, Joe?”<br/>“Wh- of COURSE not! I just… don’t wanna talk to it! That’s all!”<br/>“Well, I’ll talk to it then.”</p><p>Andrew walked over to the shadowy figure and started speaking to it.</p><p>“Hi! I’m Andrew!” he grinned, reaching out his hand for a handshake. The shadow being, seemed to tilt its head and look at Andrew, and even though it didn’t have a face, you could tell it was curious.</p><p>“...hello...?” the shadow echoed. Its voice was soft, yet deep at the same time.</p><p>“Do you have a name?” Andrew asked, putting down his hand. The shadow probably wasn’t going to give him a handshake, and it would be tiring to keep his hand up anyway.</p><p>“...you shouldn’t be able to see me.. or talk to me...” it responded.</p><p>The boys glanced at each other. Then, they glanced back at the shadow figure. “What do you mean we shouldn’t be able to see you-”</p><p>Ding! The elevator had landed, &amp; the shadow being vanished. “Huh. Weird.” Zubin shrugged as the elevator doors opened up. “Thank god that thing’s gone. That was WEIRD.” Joe groaned. All four of them exited the elevator, only to find themselves in a lobby filled to the brim with those sentient bananas.</p><p>“Oh, what the FUC-”<br/>“This was expected, no need to be so dramatic over this.”<br/>“Why do you sound so serious all of a sudden?”<br/>“Just shut up and- wait, my phone’s ringing.”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>The halls of the college was filled with the limp bodies of bananas. Steve and Ross were exhausted, but the job had been done. They looked at each other and sighed. “So… about that ‘long story’ you were talkin’ about earlier?” Steve asked, throwing his squeaky hammer in the air and then catching it.</p><p>“Well, Banana Man’s this dude who runs this restaurant called ‘Banana Man’s Banana Land,’ &amp; he’s apparently trying to take over capitalism?”<br/>“What?”<br/>“Yea, it’s wild,” Ross chuckled, pulling on his tie. In an instant, his weapon disappeared &amp; his outfit reverted back to normal.<br/>“How’d you find out about this anyway?”<br/>“Joe and I had an argument about magic or whatever, so me and Rob made him cupcakes as an apology, but when I went to deliver the cupcakes, there was a banana-shaped hammer outside his room &amp; he was nowhere to be seen.”<br/>“Holy shit.”<br/>“Apparently fighting ‘the evils that plague this world’ is a bit harder than we all expected-”<br/>“INCOMING!”</p><p>Steve whacked an incoming banana who was on its way to try to get a hold of Ross. The banana fell over and, because it was a banana, had a lot of trouble getting back up. “Oh hey, thanks Steve!” Ross gave Steve a little thumbs up. “Y’know, when you’re not robbing Walmarts &amp; harassing the other members of the band, you’re actually a pretty chill dude!”</p><p>“The Walmart robbery was a one-time thing!” Steve chuckled, bonking another oncoming banana in its face- well, where its face would be, anyway. “I wonder how the others are doing right now,” Ross sighed, sucker-punching a banana where its face would be if it had one. “Maybe we should call them-”</p><p>“You can’t call them right now! What if another horde of those banana things show up?!”<br/>“If we could find a hiding place, it’d probably be fine.”<br/>“I- y’know what, that’s fair, I guess..”</p><p>So, the two of then wandered around the near-empty halls of the college, searching for a place to hide from the bananas. During their search, a couple of bananas popped up here &amp; there, but they were easily taken care of.</p><p>Eventually, a place had been found: a storage closet! The perfect place to hide from sentient, faceless bananas! And speaking of bananas, there seemed to be none in sight! “Alright, you go in there, call your little friends or whatever. I’ll stand guard.” Steve said. “Alright, good luck!” Ross smiled, giving Steve a thumbs up &amp; then entering the storage closet.</p><p>Ross shut the closet door, sat down on the ground, &amp; whipped out his phone. He opened up his contacts app and scrolled down to the very bottom. Zubin. He clicked on Zubin’s name and called him. He held the phone up to his ear as it rang. After a couple of seconds, the phone had been answered.</p><p>“Hello?”<br/>“Hey!”<br/>“Oh, hey Ross! Where the hell ARE you?”<br/>“Well, I’m supposed to be in class right now, but the only other person here is Steve so we’ve just kinda been fighting off those bananas together.”<br/>“Steve? Isn’t that the kid who robbed a Walmart once?”<br/>“Yea, he’s the kid who wants to join our band. He’s pretty chill, actually. Just gets a temper sometimes, I guess. Anyways, what have y’all been up to?”<br/>“Oh, y’know. Fighting bananas.”<br/>“Fair. I guess we’re ALL fighting bananas, huh?”<br/>“Heh, yup. Wait, if you’re s’posed to be fighting bananas, what are you doing calling US?”<br/>“I’m hidin’ in a storage closet right now. Steve’s guarding it.”<br/>“Ah, makes sense. Well, we should probably meet up somewhere so we can fight together.”<br/>“That’s probably a good idea. We could prolly meet up at the gas station a couple blocks away from the college.”<br/>“Good idea. We’ll get there as fast as we can.”<br/>“Same here-”</p><p>Ross could hear a bonking noise from outside the storage closet, and a scream coming from none other than Steve Gallagher. “-I’ll get there as fast as I can! Bye!”</p><p>He hung up the phone, hopped up, &amp; swung open the storage closet door. Steve was nowhere to be seen, and on the floor lay a banana baseball bat. The same banana baseball bat that Ross had seen outside of Joe’s dorm room on Monday. Ross glanced down the hall &amp; saw a figure shaped like a banana running off. “Oh, you motherfucker-”</p><p>Ross sighed as he tugged on his tie necklace. He was in his skirt now, &amp; he picked up the banana baseball bat off of the ground and started chasing after the banana figure in the halls.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>The blue-tied boy put his phone away &amp; looked around the lobby. No bananas to be seen. “Well, guys. We better head to the gas station.” Zubin sighed. “Ross is gonna be there waiting for us, and we don’t wanna be late.” The others nodded, &amp; they started making their way down to the local gas station.</p><p>“I wonder if Steve’s gonna be with him as well.”<br/>“God, I do not like that guy.”<br/>“Who, Steve?”<br/>“Yea, him. He’s fuckin’ annoying.”<br/>“I mean, you &amp; Steve seem to have a lot in common, Joe.”<br/>“Oh, really? Name 3 things then.”<br/>“Well, you both have a temper.”<br/>“NO I DON’T!”<br/>“Yea, sure.”<br/>“Both of you seem to act out when you don’t get your way.”<br/>“When have I acted out EVER, Rob?”<br/>“You argued with that banana guy back at the restaurant-”<br/>“I had EVERY RIGHT to be suspicious of that guy! And look where we are now, fighting his dumb, stupid MINIONS!”<br/>“I’d like to remind us all of similarity number one: you both have a temper!”<br/>“Ugh- ok, maybe I do have a temper. So what? Everyone’s bound to snap eventually! I just tend to snap more often than others!”<br/>“Oh! I have another similarity! You’re both boys!”<br/>“...well, no shit, Sherlock.”<br/>“That’s three things, isn’t it? A temper, acting out, &amp; being male.”<br/>“I suppose you’re right… but even then! I still don’t like him!”<br/>“Well, we all have our reasons for disliking things- oh hey, we’re here!”</p><p>The boys had arrived at the gas station. It was a 7-11, &amp; thankfully there were no bananas around. Ross didn’t seem to be around either, but maybe he was taking his time getting to the gas station. It was alright, though. They needed a break. The calm before the storm, except the storm already happened and it’s just slowed down for a moment before rising back up again harder than it did before.</p><p>A minute passed. Then, two minutes. Ross still hadn’t shown up. “Huh. Ross would usually be here by now.” Rob pointed out. “Yea, I hope he’s ok-”</p><p>At that moment, a person walked up in front of the 4 boys. It was Ross, &amp; he looked a little roughed up. He looked exhausted as well. Not to mention, in his hands was the banana baseball bat. “Uh, hey guys!” Ross waved.</p><p>“Ross? What the fuck happened to you?!”<br/>“Well, uh, long story short, let’s just say I saw that banana guy again.”<br/>“...why do you have a banana-shaped baseball bat?”<br/>“It was the first weapon I could grab. That banana guy kidnapped Steve, &amp; I was trying to chase him down… he got away though.”<br/>“Sucks for Steve, I guess.”<br/>“Joe!! Don’t be rude! Ross, look, we’ll go &amp; get Steve back, alright? As annoying as he is, he doesn’t deserve to be kidnapped.”<br/>“Well, if we’re gonna go save him, then we need to be as fast as possible, which means we need a car. You guys didn’t happen to drive here, right?”<br/>“Uh, we walked here…”<br/>“Damn.. oh, hey! There’s a car over there!”</p><p>Ross pointed to a car parked outside of the gas station. It was a gray car, &amp; it kinda looked like a Honda Civic. “Ross, we can’t just break into some random dude’s car! That’s illegal!” Rob groaned. However, Ross was already walking on over to the car. “It’s fine, the banana guy’s done worse.” “He’s got a point, Rob.” Zubin shrugged. “Ok, fine, but only this once! After this, no more car thievery.”</p><p>“Sounds like a plan, Stan!”<br/>“My name is Rob.”<br/>“It’s a metaphor!”<br/>“I don’t think you know what a metaphor is.”</p><p>The boys all walked over to the Honda Civic. Ross grabbed the handle for the car door &amp; opened it up. “Huh. I thought the car would be locked. Oh well!” They all got in the car. Ross was in the driver’s seat, with Zubin in the passenger seat. Andrew, Rob, &amp; Joe all sat in the back. The boys buckled up their seat belts and started driving on over to Banana Man’s Banana Land for the last time.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>“We’re back at the restaurant!”<br/>“Shut the FUCK up!”<br/>“Nah, I don’t think I will.”</p><p>Pim hopped out of his car (which was just a car that looked like a banana) and opened up the trunk of the car. Steve Gallagher was in there, all tied up &amp; very disgruntled. Pim reached inside the trunk to try and get Steve out to bring him into the restaurant, but he was too high up. “Curse my shortness… MINIONS!!!” the banana snapped.</p><p>At that moment, one of the faceless bananas walked over to Pim. “Alrighty, before you get taken inside, here’s the plan since I haven’t had ANYONE wake up before we arrived at the restaurant yet. My banana minion here will bring you into the restaurant. I will go into the basement to retrieve my Bananainator, which will turn YOU into one of my banana minions!! Isn’t that exciting?!” Pim explained with a smug grin on his face.</p><p>“...who the hell are you, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz?”<br/>“Wha- NO! I’m Pim the Banana Man!”<br/>“Your ‘Bananainator’ sounds like something Dr. Doof would make.”<br/>“Oh, SHUT THE FUCK UP! I’m getting the device!”</p><p>Pim stormed off into the restaurant as the banana minion snatched Steve from out of the banana car. It started taking him into the restaurant as Steve tried to struggle his way out of the banana’s grasp. After a few moments, the banana paused. It dropped Steve on the pavement. Then, the banana fell over. “Hah!”</p><p>Steve looked up to the best of his abilities to see 5 dudes standing there: Zubin, Ross, Andrew, Rob, &amp; Joe! They were all in their skirts &amp; had their weapons out. “Hey, Steve!” Ross waved with a drumstick in his hand. “Ross! Uh.. other guys that I don’t know the name of!”</p><p>“You wanna join the band &amp; you can’t even remember our names?” Andrew chuckled. “Hey! It’s not my fault Ross is the only one I have class with!” Steve groaned. “ANYWAYS, you guys should probably untie me before that Pim guy get back-”</p><p>“PIM! That’s his name!”<br/>“Did you forget the name of the evil guy you’re fighting? Really?”<br/>“Yea.”<br/>“That’s fair. Now HURRY UP &amp; UNTIE ME!”<br/>“Alright, jeez.”<br/>“Now you see why I don’t like this guy.”</p><p>Rob walked on over to Steve and started untying the rope tied around him. After about 3 seconds of untying, he went, “Wait, don’t I have an axe?” He grabbed his axe &amp; very carefully cut the rope. Steve was now free!!</p><p>He hopped up from the ground and stretched. “Well, thanks for almost cutting me with an axe, yellow boy!”</p><p>“...yellow boy?”<br/>“Yeah! Cuz you.. uh… wear yellow.”<br/>“Eh. I’ll take it.”<br/>“Anyways! Do you guys need help fighting this banana dude or whatever?! I can fight pretty well, &amp; Ross can vouch!”<br/>“Do you even have your kid’s toy with you?”<br/>“IT’S NOT A KIDS TOY!! IT’S MY SUPERVILLAIN HAMMER!”<br/>“Sure. Anyways, uh, I was actually kinda thinking you could just hide somewhere &amp; call 911 maybe.”<br/>“Oh-”<br/>“WHAT THE FUCK?!”</p><p>Pim was back outside with his Bananainator, and upon seeing that Steve had been freed, he was pissed. “Ah, fuck, it’s this guy again.” Joe groaned. “How DARE you refer to me as ‘this guy’?! I am PIM THE BANANA MAN and you will refer to me as such!” Pim scoffed, holding the Bananainator up to Steve. “Now, prepare to watch your friend get turned into one of my MINIONS!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”</p><p>“He’s not our friend-”<br/>“STEVE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!”</p><p>Ross rushed over to Steve, pushed him out of the way, &amp; held up one of his drums as Pim shot the Bananainator. The beam from the Bananainator hit the drum &amp; then bounced off into the atmosphere. “Oh, what the HELL?! You’ll PAY FOR THAT!!” the banana grimaced, snapping his fingers twice. “BANANA MINIONS, GET THEIR ASSES!”</p><p>As soon as he said that, a couple dozen bananas started rushing toward the boys. “Steve, you’ve gotta get outta here!” Ross yelled. “Call 911!” Steve got off of the ground &amp; said, “Ross, this is dangerous, you-”</p><p>“Please, just go call 911. I don’t want you getting any more hurt than you already are, Steve.”<br/>“I- ok, fine… but you’ll PAY for trying to keep me safe!”</p><p>Steve flipped out his phone and started running away as the others started attacking the bananas. Joe extended his microphone &amp; started whacking the bananas into the stratosphere like it was a game of softball. Zubin was shooting the bananas with his wand (which he figured out how to use! it’s magic!) &amp; rendering them immobile. Rob was just goin’ at it on the bananas with his axe. Andrew was using his keytar as a blunt force weapon to knock out the bananas.</p><p>Ross didn’t really know WHAT to do. He was fighting the bananas (he used his drumsticks as weapons, &amp; apparently banging on the drums sends a soundwave that pushes enemies back) but he couldn’t stop thinking. He didn’t know what he was thinking about, but it was distracting him. A lot.</p><p>One of the bananas got a hold of Ross while he was dazed out. He tried to push the banana off of him, but a magic beam from Zubin’s wand hit the banana away. “Ross! Buddy!” Zubin slid on over to Ross. “What’s goin’ on? Why aren’t you as focused as usual?” the blue-tied boy asked.</p><p>“I’m not sure… I’ve just been thinking a lot, I guess.”<br/>“About what?”<br/>“I don’t know! That’s the thing!”<br/>“Well, just try to focus, alright? We’re almost finished clearing out these bananas.”<br/>“Alright.. I’ll try.”</p><p>The boys continued to fight the bananas, but they just kept on coming, &amp; it seemed like help would never come. While they were fighting, Pim was sitting on top of a random person’s car, &amp; he now has a bag of popcorn, which was presumably banana-flavored. Next to Pim was the Bananainator. Ross had an idea. An idea that he hoped would work.</p><p>He carefully took out a couple of bananas with his drumsticks as he snuck over to the car Pim was sitting on. He didn’t seem to be getting noticed by the bananas or Pim, which was good. That was part of the plan. The other part of the plan is as follows:</p><p>Ross reached up &amp; snatched the Bananainator. “Hey, Banana Boy! LOOK OVER HERE!” “Huh?” Pim turned around to see Ross with his Bananainator. “HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!” the banana snapped, hopping off of the car &amp; running toward the gray-tied boy. However, before Pim could reach Ross, he lifted the Bananainator up to the air &amp; threw it down on the ground, destroying the device. The Bananainator was shattered all over the pavement. “NO!! MY BANANAINATOR!!” Pim cried out, rushing over to the broken remains of his device &amp; sobbing.</p><p>All of the banana minions (well, the ones that weren’t killed) suddenly reverted back to humans. They all looked around, confused.</p><p>“Where are we?”<br/>“What the fuck just happened??”<br/>“Why am I in a parking lot?”</p><p>Ross, Rob, Zubin, Andrew, &amp; Joe all just kinda glanced at each other, waiting for one of them to explain that they quite literally got turned into a banana for a while. “Well, uh, it’s a long story. Just go back home &amp; relax for a while!” Andrew said with a thumbs up. The people just shrugged &amp; walked off.</p><p>The boys felt good about themselves. They had saved the day! All of the bananas were no more, the firefighters eventually showed up &amp; arrested Pim for several counts of kidnapping, turning people into bananas against their will, &amp; trying to take over capitalism. As the firefighters dragged the banana away, he yelled, “I’LL GET MY REVENGE!!” However, the boys highly doubted that.</p><p>“Well, should we go home now?”<br/>“Probably!”</p><p>And so, Tally Hall walked away from the restaurant with a grin on their faces and a-</p><p>"Joe? Rob? Three other guys in skirts that I don't exactly know too well?"<br/>“Huh?”</p><p>They looked up to see who had said that, and it was someone they weren’t expecting.</p><p>Bora.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Two Familiar Faces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After meeting up with old friend Bora Karaca, the boys (&amp; Bora) decide to go get some lunch at the local Subway together. However, the Auctioneer was there as well, &amp; it seems like the boys might have a little trouble on-hand!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>phgnghgnhg uhhh content warning for food</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A dude wearing a white turtleneck vest with an orange shirt underneath, some black jeans, &amp; some brown boots. His hair was curly &amp; brown, and he had a confused look on his face upon seeing the boys in skirts &amp; their weapons. This man was named Bora Karaca (pronounced ka-ra-ja), a good friend of Joe &amp; Rob. </p><p>“Bora?!” Rob &amp; Joe exclaimed. “What are you doing back in town?!”<br/>“Well, y’know.. yea.”<br/>“Yea, that makes sense.”<br/>“So, uh, who are these 3 other guys &amp; why are you all wearing skirts?”<br/>“Uhh…”<br/>“Y’know what? We’ll explain that later!” Zubin grinned, pulling on his tie to revert back to his regular clothes. The others followed suit as Zubin reached out his hand to shake Bora’s. “Nice to meet you, my name’s Zubin!”</p><p>Bora shook Zubin’s hand &amp; said, “It’s nice to meet you too, Zubin!”</p><p>The other two introduced themselves as well. “I’m Andrew, and that’s Ross!” “Yo, I’m Ross!” </p><p>The introductions were nice, but they still were kinda standing in the middle of a parking lot, so they all decided to go get lunch together! The 6 of them decided to walk to the local Subway &amp; get some subs. It was a little while away, but it was only a 15 minute walk so it was fine. </p><p>They arrived at the Subway, walked inside, &amp; chose a booth to sit at. “So, who’s gonna order?”<br/>“Uh, I don’t know. Joe, maybe?”<br/>“I ordered the last time we went to a restaurant! Have someone else do it.”<br/>“I could order it!”<br/>“Alright, Ross. Go order it then!”<br/>“Alright!”</p><p>So, Ross walked up to the register &amp; started ordering the food. He ordered 5 Italian B.M.Ts &amp; 1 Roast Beef sandwich for Bora. The sandwiches were made and were promptly handed to Ross, who then paid for the sandwiches &amp; went back to the booth everyone else was sitting at.</p><p>“I’ve got the sandwiches!” Ross grinned, sitting down at the booth and handing everybody their sandwiches. “I didn’t know what kinda sandwich you wanted, Bora, so I just got you a Roast Beef. I hope that’s fine.” he said. “Oh, it’s fine! Roast Beef is ok!” Bora responded. “That’s good!”</p><p>The 6 of them enjoyed their sandwiches in silence for a good minute or so until Bora asked, “So, uh, could you all explain the whole… skirt thing?”</p><p>“Uhh..” the boys just glanced at each other, not wanting to reveal the fact that they had to fight evil dudes in skirts in a public location like Subway. “Well, uh, we would prefer to tell you in a place that ISN’T as public as a Subway, y’know?” Andrew explained, finishing off the last of his sandwich.</p><p>“Well, this public Subway seems to be nearly empty, apart from the employees &amp; that weird guy who looks like the Onceler over there.”<br/>“Huh? The purple Onceler?”</p><p>They turned around, &amp; there they were, the Auctioneer, sitting at one of the booths eating a single Subway cookie.</p><p>“That’s the guy who tried to steal a drum from us at Walmart!”<br/>“You’re right! That IS him!”<br/>“I wonder what he did with that drum.”<br/>“Why do you know that guy?”<br/>“Because he tried to steal a drum from us at Walmart, Bora. We said that already!”<br/>“Hm, that’s fair.”</p><p>Bora took another bite out of his sandwich. “Well, on another note, what have y’all been up to ever since I was gone?”</p><p>“Well, we all started a band together!”<br/>“Oh, cool! What’s it called?”<br/>“Tally Hall! Zubin came up with the idea for the name!”<br/>“Ah, neat! What kind of songs have you made so far?”<br/>“Uh, we’re still working on that part.”<br/>“Yea, we were thinking about working on a song or two tomorrow, actually!”<br/>“Were we? I don’t remember that.”<br/>“Well, if we weren’t before, we are now!”<br/>“Oh, that’s cool! I actually, uh, gotta go to the bathroom real quick. Be right back!” Bora got up from the booth &amp; went to the bathroom.</p><p>Rob, Joe, Ross, Andrew, &amp; Zubin all glanced at each other &amp; sighed, for today was going to be a long day. A very long day. Why not talk to pass the time, though? Rob was about to say something, when-</p><p>“Guess who~?”<br/>“AAAAAH-”</p><p>The boys screamed &amp; turned around to see the Auctioneer in the booth behind them, grinning. “Heehee!” the purple top-hatted man giggled. “What the HELL are you doing at a Subway?! Aren’t you the guy who tried to steal a drum from us?” Joe snarled.</p><p>“Maybe! Maybe not! Who can tell? Only fate would know!”<br/>“Well, I distinctly remember you trying to steal a drum from us at Walmart the other day..”<br/>“That’s intriguing, isn’t it? Because I don’t remember that at ALL!”<br/>“Of course you do, dickhead. How could you forget something that happened 2 days ago?”<br/>“Okay, I’ll admit- I remember it all! You’ve been TRICKED!”<br/>“That’s… not a very good trick, uh, what’s your name again?”<br/>“I am The Auctioneer!! Ya better remember it!” he winked.<br/>“Yea, thanks. That’s not a very good trick, Mr. Auctioneer.”<br/>“That’s MX. Auctioneer to you!”<br/>“Oh, uh, I’m sorry-”<br/>“ANYWAYS, you folk all seem absolutely exquisite!” the Auctioneer smirked, pulling out 6 business cards out of nowhere &amp; throwing them on the table. “Howsabout you come visit my auction house someday, hm?”</p><p>The boys each grabbed a business card &amp; looked at it. The card itself was a lavender color, with text at the top saying “The Auction House: The Best Auction House in Michigan!” Below this text was even more text with a phone number, an address, &amp; a message that read “Hope you enjoy your stay!” The corners of the cards had illustrations of purple vines on it as well.</p><p>“Well, Mx. Auctioneer, I’m sorry, but we’re just college kids. We don’t wanna spend all our money auctioning for things.”</p><p>Upon hearing this, the Auctioneer just laughed. “Oh, that’s hilarious! You’re a funny boy, you know!”</p><p>A few seconds passed. “Oh, you’re serious?” they asked.<br/>The boys nodded. <br/>The Auctioneer paused &amp; thought for a moment, perhaps even 2 moments. Then, he said, “Well, alrighty then! That’s a-okay!” they grinned, &amp; continued on with, “Farewell for now!” </p><p>After that, they disappeared. The boys just glanced at each other. “...for now? I don’t like the sound of that.”<br/>“It’s probably fine.”<br/>“Hey guys! I’m back!”</p><p>Bora had come back from the bathroom &amp; sat back down at the booth with the others. “Hey, Bora! Welcome back!” Rob waved. “So, what’s with all the business cards scattered on the table?”<br/>“Oh, just some person wanting us to come to their auction house.”<br/>“Ah, that makes sense. I guess.”</p><p>The rest of their lunch was the 6 of them having a nice conversation about trees &amp; finishing up their sandwiches. It was delightful for a moment or two, but after everyone was done with their sandwiches Bora got up, stretched, &amp; said, “Well, it was fun talkin’ to you all, but I got somewhere to be. See ya later!” </p><p>“Bye, Bora!”<br/>“It was nice meeting you!”<br/>“Nice meetin’ you too!”</p><p>&amp; with that, Bora left the building. The 5 boys sighed, not out of relief, but out of exhaustion. The day had been long, despite it only being an early Thursday afternoon. It was probably about time to leave the Subway anyway, so they all got up, threw away their trash, &amp; left.</p><p>“So, what do we do now? We still got like 8 hours of daytime left.”<br/>“Well, if we really ARE gonna work on songs tomorrow, then we should work on songs today as well!”<br/>“I mean… I guess? Why, though?”<br/>“Well first off, we’re a band. We make music.”<br/>“We haven’t made music yet.”<br/>“Well, then that’s why we need to make music! So we can officially call ourselves a band!”<br/>“That’s fair. Let’s head on over to my dorm room so we can start writing those songs!”<br/>“Hell yea!!”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>A person walked back &amp; forth across their office, pondering. “Oh, what’s a guy to do when the people he wants - the people he NEEDS - don’t want to COME?!” the Auctioneer sighed, dramatically twirling his hand up to his forehead as if they were fainting. </p><p>The pacing back &amp; forth between his office continued for another 2 minutes or so as he thought of a plan. As they were about to give up, an idea popped into their head. </p><p>“Aha! The back-up plan!”</p><p>The Auctioneer rushed over to his whiteboard, with many things written on it. The main thing he wanted to focus on though was a list titled “PLAN B.” They looked through the list, looked through it again, and laughed to themself. “Ohohoho! Oh, this is going to be GREAT! They’ll love being involved in the auction for SURE!”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>It was late at night, around 9:30 pm. The boys sat in Ross’s dorm room. Ross was on his bed, with some bongos in his lap that he won at a baking contest in his freshman year of high school. Rob was sitting on one of those hanging egg chair things with a clipboard &amp; a pencil. The clipboard had tons of papers clipped to it. Some of it sheet music, some of it lyrics. </p><p>Joe was lying on the floor, exhausted, with his guitar laying next to him, &amp; papers scattered all around him. Zubin sat on the floor, propped up against the side of Ross’s bed, &amp; his bass in his lap. Andrew was sitting at a desk in the room with his transportable keyboard with him, for easy practice! There was sheet music scattered all over the place, most of it incomprehensible to some degree. </p><p>The boys had just finished writing some songs. Well, the first drafts of them, anyhow. They were tired, &amp; exhausted, &amp; quite frankly they just wanted to go to bed. “Well! That was… fun! I guess!” Andrew smiled as he stood up &amp; stretched. “But I’m exhausted now, so-”</p><p>“We’re ALL exhausted, Andy!”<br/>“Yea, I think I might just pass out right here.”<br/>“Y’all should prolly go ahead &amp; go back to your dorm rooms. It’d be more comfortable for sure!” Ross yawned, getting up to go into his closet. “I’m gonna go change into some pajamas! See you guys tomorrow for, uh, practice. I guess. I have to get used to this band thing.”<br/>“You better get used to it! We’re gonna be a band for a while!” Joe chuckled jokingly, getting up from the floor. “See ya tomorrow, Ross!”</p><p>So Joe, Rob, Zubin, &amp; Andrew left the dorm room with their equipment as Ross had finished changing into some pajamas. As Ross sleepily exited his closet, he noticed a weird poster-eqse paper sitting on his desk. “Huh? What’s that?” the boy muttered to himself, grabbing the poster &amp; reading it.</p><p>The border of the poster was light gray, with the inside being a light purple. There was text on the poster in a darker purple that read “A Very Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt!” At the bottom of the page, it read, “When you’re ready to start, come to the bakery!”</p><p>Ross yawned as he set the poster back on the desk. “I’ll… do that tomorrow. If I remember.” he sighed, turning off his light &amp; hopping into bed. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day for sure. An interesting day for everyone involved.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Scavenger Hunt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Tally Hall boys are sent on a very extraordinary scavenger hunt! However, it doesn't go as they expected it to.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>cw for food &amp; kidnapping &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrew awoke to the whirring sound of his heater turning itself on. It was Friday now, &amp; he didn’t have any classes. He was planning on just relaxing today when he noticed a poster sitting on his piano. “Huh?” he thought to himself, getting out of bed &amp; looking at the poster.</p><p>The border of the poster was green, &amp; the inside was a light purple. Text was on the poster in a darker purple that said “A Very Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt!” &amp; at the bottom of the page, it read, “When you’re ready to start, come to the Red Lobster!”</p><p>He stared at the poster for a moment. Then, he sighed. “Well, I have nothing better to do today.” So, Andrew got dressed in his usual clothes, grabbed the poster, &amp; went on his way to the Red Lobster in town.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Zubin had already been up for a while, but all the lights in his room were off, so you could probably imagine his surprise when he turned on the lights to see a poster that he didn’t recognize hanging up on his wall. “Hm. I don’t remember buying that.” Zubin muttered, reading what the poster said.</p><p>The inside of the poster was a light purple, whilst the border of the poster was a dark blue. At the top, there was text in a darker purple that read “A Very Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt!”, &amp; at the bottom it read “When you’re ready to start, come to the new Walmart!”</p><p>“Huh. Interesting.” he said. “Well, it might be fun! I haven’t done a scavenger hunt since 5th grade!” &amp; so, Zubin quickly got into clothes that weren’t his pajamas, grabbed the poster off of his wall, &amp; sprinted on over to the new Walmart.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Beep! Beep! Beep! Bee-</p><p>Ross rolled in bed over to the side where his alarm clock was &amp; turned it off. “Ugh, I really need to change the sound my alarm makes.” he yawned, sitting up in his bed &amp; looking at the ground. Sheet music &amp; papers with lyrics on them were scattered everywhere. “Oh, yea. I forgot I’m in a band, heh.” Ross chuckled to himself.</p><p>Then, he looked over at his desk. The poster that he looked at last night was still there. “Oh. The poster.” he sighed, getting up to look at it again. It hadn’t changed from the 8 hours Ross had been asleep, but something did seem off about the poster. Perhaps it was the amount of purple that was used, or maybe it was the font of the text on it.</p><p>He decided to just brush off the bad feeling he had for now. Scavenger hunts were fun! What’s the worst that could happen, right? Ross got changed into his regular clothes, grabbed the poster, &amp; started his journey down to the bakery.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Rob had awoke to the sun shining directly in his face. He reluctantly got out of bed, rubbed his eyes, &amp; noticed an unfamiliar poster laying on the floor. “Huh? What’s this?” he yawned, picking the poster up &amp; looking at it.</p><p>The poster had a border which was yellow, &amp; the inside of it was a light purple. On the poster was text in a darker purple which read, “A Very Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt!” &amp; at the bottom there was more text that said, “When you’re ready to start, come to the abandoned Pizza Hut!”</p><p>“Oddly specific location, but I never pass down a good scavenger hunt!” he grinned, changing into his regular clothes &amp; going on down to the abandoned Pizza Hut, bringing the poster with him.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Joe groaned as he stretched &amp; got out of bed. He was absolutely exhausted, but he had things to do today. Joe went to go change into his regular clothes when he noticed a poster pinned to his closet door. “What the fuck?” He yanked the poster off of the door &amp; took a closer look at it.</p><p>The poster was bordered with the color red, while the inside of it was a light purple. On the poster was some text in a darker purple that said, “A Very Extraordinary Scavenger Hunt!” At the bottom was some more text that read “When you’re ready to start, come to the nearest Target!”</p><p>“Oh, what the hell? A scavenger hunt?” Joe sighed. “Well, I have nothing better to do while waiting for our apparent band practice today!” He changed into his regular clothes &amp; glanced at the poster again before leaving. “Wait, the NEAREST Target? There’s only 1 Target IN this city! Guess I gotta go to that one, then.” Joe muttered to himself, exiting his dorm room.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>“Alright! I’m here!” Andrew grinned, rolling up &amp; parking his car outside of the Red Lobster. He hopped out of the car, grabbing the poster because he brought it along with him. He looked at the poster, &amp; the text seemed to have changed. Now, the text on the poster read, “First things first, you must search for a purple pencil hidden somewhere outside of the Red Lobster premises, for this will be important later on in the scavenger hunt!”</p><p>“Oh, that’s neat. The text changed.” he chuckled. “Alright, so where would a purple pencil be?”</p><p>Andrew started looking around outside the Red Lobster. A purple pencil outside of a Red Lobster would seem quite easy to find, right? Well, apparently not, because after 15 minutes, he had finally found the pencil under a few rocks. “Finally, there it is!”</p><p>He grabbed the purple pencil &amp; looked at his poster. The text had changed once again. It now read: “Congratulations! Your next objective is to-”</p><p>Andrew didn’t get a chance to finish reading what the poster had said now, because he felt a sharp prick in his arm. He looked at his arm. “Huh? A tranquilizer dart? Why would-”</p><p>&amp; with that, Andrew had passed out on the ground.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Zubin hopped out of his car at an Arby’s with his poster in hand. He had to go to the new Walmart that opened up recently, &amp; from there the poster told him to get 3 things: one of the balls from the ballpit, some elastic rope, &amp; five dry erase markers. After that, the poster said to go to Arby’s, &amp; so now Zubin was at Arby’s.</p><p>He looked down at the poster to see what it said now. The text on the poster now read, “Your next objective is easy, you see! All you need to do now is head on over to the back of the Arby’s! You’ll know what to do from there, trust me.”</p><p>Zubin started on walking to the back of the Arby’s, but then stopped. “This seems a little suspicious to me, actually… maybe I shouldn’t do it.” he muttered to himself, glancing at the poster.</p><p>The poster’s text had changed. It now read: “If you don’t go to the back of the Arby’s, you’ll suffer the dire consequences. =)”</p><p>For some reason, this message on the poster made Zubin feel like he HAD to go to the back of the Arby’s. &amp; so, he reluctantly made his way down to the back of the Arby’s. Once there, he looked around for about 2 seconds. There was a sharp prick in the back of his neck all of a sudden, &amp; Zubin fell to the ground.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Ross had arrived at the local Wegmans (a grocery store). First he had to go visit the bakery &amp; purchase some chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting on them. After that, he had to go on over to the library &amp; grab a few rocks from outside, which Ross thought was a little weird, but this was a scavenger hunt, so he didn’t question it.</p><p>Now, Ross had to be at Wegmans, &amp; he had to get 3 dozen eggs. He had never been in a Wegmans before, so Ross had to go ask an employee where the eggs were. He went up to the first employee he saw (the employee’s back was turned, however) &amp; Ross started speaking.</p><p>“Excuse me, uh, could you help me find the eggs please?” Ross requested.</p><p>The employee turned around to look at Ross. “Uh, sure, they’re just- ROSS?!”</p><p>“STEVE??”</p><p>It turns out that Steve Gallagher was the employee!</p><p>“What are YOU doing here?!”<br/>“I could ask you the same thing!”<br/>“Well, I asked you first, so…”<br/>“Well, I’m on a scavenger hunt, &amp; my next thing to do is to get some eggs here, so that’s why I’m here!”<br/>“What type of scavenger hunt makes you buy eggs at a fucking Wegmans?”<br/>“This one, apparently! So, why are you here?”<br/>“Uh, I work here. Part-time. Just for extra cash, I don’t plan on being here my whole life.”<br/>“Well, no one wants to work a retail job for their whole life, heh.”<br/>“That’s true.”</p><p>It was silent for a few seconds. Then, Ross said, “Oh, uh, I still need to find the eggs.”</p><p>“Oh, right! Follow me.”</p><p>So, Steve led Ross on over to the part of the store that contained the eggs. “Well, uh, here you go. Grab as many eggs as you want.” Steve groaned. “God, why can’t my shift be over yet?”</p><p>Ross grabbed the 3 cartons of eggs that he needed &amp; put them in a shopping basket. “Well, it was nice seein’ you, Steve! I’m gonna go checkout now &amp; continue on with the scavenger hunt!”</p><p>“Good luck, I guess.”<br/>“Thanks! See ya!”</p><p>He went to the checkout lane &amp; paid for the 3 cartons of eggs. After that, he exited the Wegmans &amp; started walking away when he felt a pinch in the back of his neck. “What the-”</p><p>And like that, Ross had fallen to the ground, passed out.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Rob yawned as he arrived at the Arby’s. His first stop for the scavenger hunt was the abandoned Pizza Hut, where he had to get a $20 bill from inside the cash register (it’s not stealing if it’s abandoned!). Next, he had to go on over to the local swimming pool &amp; grab some of the cups that you get soda from at the concession stands. Then, Rob had to head on over to Claire’s (which was in the mall) &amp; had to get a few purple backpacks from the store.</p><p>After that, he had to go to Arby’s, which is where he was now. Rob looked down at his poster to see what it said. The poster read, “Your next task is to get 5 packages of chicken tenders! Trust me, we’ll need it.”</p><p>&amp; so, Rob entered the Arby’s &amp; walked up to the register.</p><p>“Welcome to Arby’s, how may I help you?”<br/>“Hi, uh, could I order 5 of the chicken tenders? Like, not only 5 chicken tenders but like, 5 container thingies with the chicken tenders in them.”<br/>“...sure?”<br/>“It’s for a scavenger hunt, I’m not planning on eating any of these.”<br/>“What kind of scavenger hunt are you on?”<br/>“One that’s described as ‘very extraordinary,’ apparently.”<br/>“I feel sorry for you.”</p><p>The cashier got Rob’s order in &amp; told him the price: $20 exactly. Rob handed over his $20 bill he got from the abandoned Pizza Hut &amp; waited for the chicken tenders to be done. After a couple minutes of waiting, the cashier called out, “We got an order for the scavenger hunt guy!”</p><p>Rob walked up &amp; grabbed the chicken tenders from the register. “Have a nice day, sir!” “You too!” He left the Arby’s &amp; was about to get in his car when he felt a sharp prick in the back of his neck. “Ow, what WAS-”</p><p>Not even 5 seconds later, Rob had been knocked out on the ground.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Joe had rolled on up to IHOP. His first location was Target, where he had to buy 2 stacks of that lined paper that you see in schools. Next, he went on over to Walmart, &amp; he had to get a couple packs of Sharpies there. After he did that, Joe had to head on over to the local park to get some balloons. Luckily, the free balloon guy was there, &amp; so Joe got some free balloons!</p><p>Then, he had to go on over to college campus, &amp; get 5 flowers from the garden. Joe had successfully done that, &amp; now he was at IHOP. He looked down at his poster, &amp; it said, “Congratulations! You’re almost done! Now all you need to do is-”</p><p>But Joe didn’t get to finish reading it, because he felt a sharp pain enter the back of his neck. “What the hell was that-”</p><p>Within a few seconds, Joe had passed out in the middle of the IHOP parking lot.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>The boys blinked their eyes. All 5 of them (Rob, Joe, Ross, Andrew, &amp; Zubin) had awoken in a dimly-lit room. They looked around the room, noticing a single window that none of them would have been able to reach. “Where the hell am I?!” Joe groaned. “I don’t know, but I don’t think there’s any way out..” Andrew responded.</p><p>They heard a sinister laugh come from outside the room, “Ohoho, you’d be correct, my friend! There’s no way out for now!”</p><p>They all gasped. They knew that voice well. Too well. It was the voice of none other than The Auctioneer.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Bid Begins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The boys have been kidnapped by the Auctioneer, &amp; they plan on turning them all into statues for the bidding! Will they be able to escape, or is their fate (&amp; themselves) sealed in stone?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>aughughhg content warning for kidnapping, food, &amp; mentions of murder</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It seems you boys have fallen for my trap~!”<br/>“What have you done to us?! Where are we?!”</p><p>The boys were in a freezing, dark room, &amp; the only source of light was from a window too high up for the boys to reach. Even though the room was poorly-lit, they could tell there was a door in front of them. &amp; presumably, outside the door, was the Auctioneer themself.</p><p>“Well, you’re at my Auction House, silly!” the Auctioneer responded with a chuckle. “We said we weren’t interested in bidding on anything though-” Ross started, but then the Auctioneer interrupted him with: “Ohoho, bold of you to assume YOU’RE the one bidding!”</p><p>“Wh- What do you mean?”<br/>“Oh, you boys must be confused, huh? Let me explain!”</p><p>The door in front of the boys opened, &amp; in came the Auctioneer in his purple suit, his tophat, &amp; a smug look on their face. They shut the door behind them, cleared his throat, &amp; started speaking.</p><p>“Well, y’see, in this Auction House, I have to auction off things to make money, &amp; sometimes, I’ve gotta auction off some.. unnatural things, y’know?”<br/>“What… kind of unnatural things?”<br/>“Oh, y’know, eggs, potentially dangerous chemicals, humans…”<br/>“HUMANS?!”</p><p>Now the boys were panicked, &amp; they had good reason to!</p><p>“Oh, don’t worry! The humans aren’t alive, per say! You see, you 5 are currently in this Auction House’s freezer room! Within a couple of hours, you’ll be as cold as a stone statue, &amp; will then be auctioned off as one!” the Auctioneer giggled.</p><p>“Wait- so… you’re gonna turn us into statues?” Zubin asked.</p><p>“Precisely!!” they grinned. “Good for you for figuring out my plan! Now, I’m gonna go prepare the main room, you guys just stay in here &amp; strike a pose, ‘cause once you’ve been frozen you can’t change it!”</p><p>The Auctioneer winked &amp; exited the room (closing the door as well), leaving Tally Hall to freeze. The boys sighed. “I shouldn’t have gone on that stupid scavenger hunt. It was a trap from the very beginning!” Joe groaned, sitting down on the ground.</p><p>“Wait, you went on a scavenger hunt too?”<br/>“Yeah?”<br/>“I also went on a scavenger hunt!”<br/>“Did we ALL get lured here by the same thing?”<br/>“I guess so..”<br/>“That motherfucker! I’ll kick his ass!”</p><p>“Well… how do we get out?” Rob sighed, analyzing the room.</p><p>They looked at the door. “What are the chances that they forgot to lock the door?” Ross questioned. “Let’s see!” Andrew replied, walking over to the door &amp; attempting to open it. Unfortunately, the door wouldn’t budge, &amp; Andrew tried his hardest. “Alright, so either they DID lock it or the door has locked itself due to the cold in this room.”</p><p>“Well, if we’re gonna find a way out of this room, you better do it fast! I’m fuckin’ freezing my ass off!”<br/>“We all are, Joe! You’re not the ONLY one cold as hell!”<br/>“Hell isn’t even cold!”<br/>“How would YOU know? You’ve never been to hell!”<br/>“You haven’t been to hell either! What’s your point?!”<br/>“Guys, stop fighting,” Rob commanded. “We’re never gonna get out of this room with your nonsensical bickering.”</p><p>“You’re right, I guess…” Joe mumbled, standing up from his spot on the frosty floor.</p><p>“Uh, so do any of you guys have any ideas on how to get out?” Andrew asked, shivering. They all thought for a minute. Then, Ross said, “Oh, I got an idea! How about we-”<br/>“We are NOT getting in those goddamn skirts again-”<br/>“Joe, don’t argue.”<br/>“Yea, Joe! &amp; don’t go on about your ‘magic isn’t real’ nonsense. It’s been proved!”</p><p>Joe stopped, sighed, &amp; then grimaced. “Alright. What’s the plan?” he groaned.</p><p>“The plan is that we get into those skirts, get our weapons, &amp; bust down that door!” Ross grinned.</p><p>The boys looked at each other for a moment. Then, Zubin said, “Well, it’s worth a shot! Let’s try it!” They all nodded in solidarity, pulling on their necklaces. They were in the skirts once again. &amp; now, they had to get out their weapons. The boys cleared out their throats, &amp; said the phrase…</p><p>“I know a lady, Good &amp; Evil, showed me that I was a gentleman. Wait for the girl to blossom into colors that grow where you can...”</p><p>Soon after the phrase was uttered, the boys had their weapons once again. “Alright!! Now let’s knock this place to the ground!”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Outside of the freezer room, the Auction House was actually quite eloquent. There were a few guests there already, waiting. The Auctioneer was almost done setting everything up for “The Grand Bid,” as they called it. There was a concession table in the room with two balloons sitting to the sides of the table. On the table were many foods, such as Arby’s chicken tenders, cupcakes, &amp; soda.</p><p>There were a couple of rocks on the ground keeping the balloons from flying up, &amp; on a separate table were a tiny basket filled with a purple pencil, Sharpies, &amp; dry erase markers. Next to the basket was a clipboard with lined paper attached to it, for guests to write their name as they come inside.</p><p>Most of the preparations were complete, so all he needed to do now was bring the eggs into the back of the Auction House. After the auction was over, they planned on making omelettes to celebrate. However, as they grabbed the 3 cartons of eggs &amp; started walking, a boy he didn’t recognize walked over &amp; started talking.</p><p>“Are those Wegmans eggs?”<br/>“Uh- yes! They are! Three dozen of them, in fact!”<br/>“Hmm.. I had a frien- a customer! Not a friend! I had a customer buy exactly THREE DOZEN Wegmans eggs from me today!”<br/>“That- uh.. It must be a coincidence! Move along now, the auction’s about to-”<br/>“I don’t like how suspicious you’re acting…”<br/>“Well… um-”</p><p>Suddenly, alarms started going off. A robotic voice from the intercom started speaking. “ALERT: THE BOYS HAVE ESCAPED. ALERT: THE BOYS HAVE ESCAPED.” While everyone else was scared &amp; confused at the alarms, the Auctioneer simply just sighed, &amp; said “Ah, shucks! Calm down now, everyone, the situation will be fixed in just a moment!”</p><p>The Auctioneer strolled off to “fix the situation”, but they had no clue they were being followed.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>“Hi-YAH!” Rob chuckled as he finally got the door knocked down with his axe. “You know, you don’t have to do the whole ‘hi-yah’ thing every time you swing that axe at the door, right?” Joe grumbled. “Hey, at least we’re out of this freezer!” Rob remarked, stepping out of the freezer room.</p><p>As soon as his foot met the floor, blaringly loud alarms starting going off. “OW! What the hell is that noise?!” The boys covered up their ears with their hands to reduce the volume of the alarm, but they could still hear it say “ALERT: THE BOYS HAVE ESCAPED. ALERT: THE BOYS HAVE ESCAPED.”</p><p>“Why does this place have an ALARM SYSTEM of all things?!”<br/>“Hell if I know, but GOD if this isn’t going to cause us any hearing damage…”<br/>“There’s gotta be a way to turn that thing OFF, right?”</p><p>The boys looked down the seemingly endless hallway they were in for any way to turn off that booming alarm. They saw a lever on the wall just a couple of feet in front of them. “Hey, look! A lever!”</p><p>Ross rushed over to the lever &amp; was about to switch it off when Zubin yelled, “Are you sure that lever’s gonna shut off these alarms?!” In response, Ross yelled back, “I sure hope they do!” &amp; pulled on the lever as fast as he could.</p><p>Not only had the alarms shut off, but Ross had also broken the lever as well, ripping it off of its hinges. The boys uncovered their ears as they looked at the broken lever in Ross’s hands. “Oh, uh… what are we gonna do with this?” Ross sighed, glancing at the lever.</p><p>“Oh, I don’t know! What ARE you gonna do with that?” a familiar voice uttered from across the hall.</p><p>They turned to look at who it was, &amp; gasped. It was none other than the Auctioneer themself.</p><p>“YOU! What are you doing here?!” Joe shouted at the purple-suited person.<br/>“What are you doing out of the freezer?” the Auctioneer snarked back, cracking his knuckles.<br/>“Well, y’know, we’re not big fans of being turned into statues.”<br/>“Does it matter if you’re fans of it? It’s for the bidding, after all! Besides, once you turn into statues, you won’t be able to feel a thing!”<br/>“We’d still be statues, though! &amp; what about our family &amp; friends?!”<br/>“Oh, don’t worry! That’ll all be sorted out in due time~!”<br/>“What do you mean by that..?”<br/>“Oh, y’know, just some good ol’ fashioned murder does the trick pretty well!”<br/>“You sick bastard… I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”</p><p>Joe sprinted on over towards the Auctioneer with his extended microphone in hand, ready to smack the Auctioneer right in the face. However, before he could, the Auctioneer grabbed the microphone right before it hit his face, smirking. “Feeling a little feisty now, are we?” they chuckled, glancing at Joe, who was shocked at the quick grab.</p><p>The red-tied boy tried to yank his microphone out of the Auctioneer’s grip, but it just wasn’t working. “Try all you want, but you’re not gettin’ this back!” “Well, you’re gonna give back my fuckin’ microphone &amp; shut this whole operation down!”</p><p>“Don’t worry, Joe! I got this!”</p><p>Zubin aimed his wand at the Auctioneer &amp; shot at them. However, the Auctioneer simply just ducked under the magic shot &amp; once it had passed, stood up normally again. All while still holding Joe’s microphone in his grip. “Oh. Well, I guess I don’t got this.” Zubin sighed.</p><p>“Alrighty, this has been very fun talkin’ to you boys, but I’ve got an auction to start! So if you could kindly get back in the freezer yourselves, that’d be FANTASTIC, because trust me, you don’t want me to force you in there.”</p><p>“...how do you think you’re gonna get us in there if you’d have to let go of Joe’s microphone for that?”<br/>“I have my ways-”</p><p>A hammer hit the back of the Auctioneer’s head, squeaking as they fell down on the floor in front of the boys. “Ha! That’ll teach ya!”</p><p>The boys looked up to see who the person with the squeaky hammer was. “STEVE?!” They all gasped. Yup, it was none other than Steve Gallagher, in his Wegmans uniform &amp; his squeaky “evil villain” hammer in hand.</p><p>“What are you doing here, Steve? Weren’t you at the Wegmans?” Ross questioned.</p><p>“You guys saved my ass once, now it’s my turn to save YOURS!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Nothing's Set In Stone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Auctioneer's still planning on turning our heroes to statues, when Steve arrives as a helping hand to the boys. However, will his hammer be enough to stop The Auctioneer, or will the boys need to overpower them in order to escape being turned into a statue &amp; save the day?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>content warning for food, kidnapping mention &amp; some violence. enjoy the read &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The boys (&amp; Steve) stood there next to The Auctioneer’s seemingly unconscious body. Steve had knocked out The Auctioneer with his hammer. “Well, uh, thanks for saving us, Steve-” Rob started</p><p>“You’re welcome! Nothing the great Steve Gallagher can’t handle!”<br/>“Uh, Steve, can I ask a question? Why are you here? At the Auction House?”<br/>“I could ask you the same thing. I was just here to see what this auction was all about.”<br/>“Well, that dude on the floor you just knocked out was gonna TURN US INTO STATUES to sell at the auction! So that’s what that’s all about!”<br/>“He was WHAT?!”<br/>“This dude has the audacity to send us all on a fake scavenger hunt just to KIDNAP us &amp; try to turn us into statues!”<br/>“Look, this is great that you’re having a conversation or whatever, but I think MAYBE we should leave before this guy wakes up.”<br/>“What do you mean before I wake up?”</p><p>Turns out The Auctioneer hadn’t been knocked out! To be fair, Steve used a squeaky hammer, so it makes sense that it didn’t work. </p><p>“What the hell?! I thought you were knocked out!”<br/>“Steve’s ‘weapon’ is a kid’s toy, of COURSE it didn’t work!”<br/>“HEY! It’s not a kid’s toy! It’s my evil villain hammer!”<br/>“It’s clearly painted over, I could peel the paint off &amp; it’d be revealed to be a kid’s toy.”<br/>“Just let Steve have this one. It’s a hammer.”<br/>“A squeaky hammer made for kids!”<br/>“Shut up, red boy!”<br/>“Red boy?!”<br/>“Yea, ‘cuz of your stupid red tie!”<br/>“It’s not stupid!”<br/>“Yes it is!”<br/>“Guys, PLEASE stop fighting.”</p><p>While Joe &amp; Steve were arguing over the hammer, The Auctioneer quietly got up &amp; slipped away from the boys, running down the hallway. Andrew noticed this, &amp; alerted the others. “Guys, they’re running away.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>The boys looked down the hall, &amp; indeed they saw The Auctioneer running off. “HEY! GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Joe yelled, chasing The Auctioneer. “Joe, wait!” Ross shouted, following him down the hall.</p><p>The others looked at each other. “I suppose we should follow them, huh?” Rob asked. “Yea, we should.” Zubin replied, readying his wand for fighting. </p><p>&amp; so, they were all chasing The Auctioneer down the halls. Zubin attempted to shoot his magic wand at The Auctioneer, but he kept dodging every shot. </p><p>“How are they so good at dodging?!”<br/>“It’s a skill few can acquire! Heehee!”<br/>“That’s a stupid skill!!” Joe yelled, using his elongated microphone to hit The Auctioneer on the head. However, The Auctioneer ducked down, just nearly avoiding the microphone, bouncing back up again. “You might think it’s stupid, but I find it quite useful to avoid getting a concussion!”<br/>“Oh, you bitch!”</p><p>After a couple of seconds, The Auctioneer turned a corner, kicked open a door &amp; bursted into the main room of the Auction House, where all the people were waiting. The boys followed suit, entering the main room &amp; seeing all the people there who were previously waiting for the auction to begin now staring at them. It was silent for a good 3 seconds until someone from the crowd asked, “So, uh, when’s the auction starting?”</p><p>Then, it was silent for another 3 seconds. The Auctioneer started speaking. “I’m oh-so terribly sorry, but the auction’s gonna have to be delayed until-” However, they were abruptly interrupted by Zubin shouting “THIS AUCTION’S CANCELLED! FOREVER!!”</p><p>The crowd of people in the room stared at Zubin, while The Auctioneer just turned around &amp; glared at the boys. “What do you mean it’s cancelled? Can I get a refund?” another person said. </p><p>“Uh- don’t listen to them! The auction’s not cancelled-”<br/>“This motherfucker tried to turn us into STATUES!” Joe grimaced, pointing his microphone at the purple suit-wearing person. Some of the crowd gasped, while others seemed curious, wondering if what Joe had said was true or not.</p><p>“Statues?” a person questioned.<br/>“How do you even turn a person INTO a statue?” another person asked.<br/>“By freezing them, apparently.” Rob groaned.<br/>“Hey, uh, none of this is true!” the Auctioneer stammered. “They’re, um, just trying to make me look bad! They’re trying to shut down the auction, don’t listen to them!”</p><p>A few seconds passed as the crowd mumbled around to themselves. </p><p>“Yea, that’s kinda fucked up, man.” a guy in the horde of people eventually spoke up.<br/>“That guy’s right. I’m outta here!” a woman exclaimed.<br/>“No, wait!-” the Auctioneer yelled out, but he was unable to stop everyone from leaving the auction house. Soon, the auction house was completely empty besides The Auctioneer, Tally Hall, &amp; Steve. </p><p>“...Maybe we should have told those people to call the firefighters, huh?” Ross sighed.<br/>“Yea, probably.” Andrew replied.<br/>“Well, we should probably leave, huh?”<br/>“Yea, let’s do that. We’ve got band practice with Bora soon anyway. Wouldn’t wanna miss it!”</p><p>So, the boys started to head for the exit of the Auction House when The Auctioneer (currently in the 2nd stage of grief), pulled a button out of their pocket &amp; pressed it. A metal plate swooped down &amp; covered the exit, &amp; the boys jumped. “What the hell?!” They turned back to look at The Auctioneer, button in hand &amp; a very angry look on their face.</p><p>“You boys… you wretched boys have just thrown away everything I’ve worked for. You were perfect for the auction, you could have been famous! But you threw that chance away, &amp; you’ll pay for it…” he growled at the boys. </p><p>The boys glanced at each other. “Well, guys, uhh… we might have to do a little fighting here..” Ross sighed. “Yup.” Rob replied as the boys readied their weapons.</p><p>“So what’s the plan?”<br/>“Uh, do we need a plan? I mean, it’s 5 versus 1-”<br/>“HEY! Don’t forget me!”<br/>“...its 6 versus 1, we could take them on easily.”<br/>“Were you not paying attention earlier?! They’re strong as hell!”<br/>“..true. I guess.”<br/>“What’s taking you guys so long?! I want you boys mauled already.” the Auctioneer rolled their eyes (literally) as he pulled out a cane from his pocket.<br/>“Hold on, Onceler! We’re devising a plan!”<br/>“Well, hurry up, then! &amp; don’t call me that!”</p><p>The boys huddled around in a circle &amp; started whispering amongst themselves, coming up with a plan to defeat The Auctioneer.</p><p>“Alright, so we know this guy is pretty strong already, &amp; also they’ve got a lotta tricks up their sleeve.”<br/>“Well, true, but what are we gonna do with THAT information?”<br/>“I dunno. Come up with a plan to out-power him?”<br/>“I guess so. Zubes, do you have an idea?”    <br/>“Uh.. I was thinkin' me, Rob, &amp; Joe could fight them while Andrew &amp; Ross tried to get the door uncovered. Steve could call the firefighters, I guess.”<br/>“I called the firefighters last time!”<br/>“Did you?”<br/>“He did, I told him to. Anyways, I could probably call them this time! Steve could help out with getting the door uncovered.”<br/>“So, it’s a plan then?”<br/>“Yea!”<br/>“I guess so.” </p><p>The circle that the boys had made to huddle in had been unformed now, as Rob, Joe, &amp; Zubin looked at The Auctioneer with determination in their eyes. “Alrighty, Auctioneer… let’s rock &amp; roll!” the red-tied boy announced, readying his microphone. </p><p>Rob, Joe, &amp; Zubin started fighting The Auctioneer as Andrew &amp; Steve rushed over to the door &amp; tried to get the metal plate out of the way. Ross ran off into a nearby closet, &amp; was presumably calling the firefighters at this moment. </p><p>Zubin fired his magic wand at The Auctioneer, but he used his cane to deflect the magic beams, &amp; they got shot back at the boys, who quickly dodged the magic. Rob dashed at The Auctioneer with his guitar axe in hand, ready to slice the purple suit-wearing person. The Auctioneer was very close to being sliced in half, but within a second they grabbed the blade of the axe with their hand, which Rob quickly noticed. “Why would you grab the BLADE of the axe with your hand? Doesn’t that hurt?”</p><p>In response, The Auctioneer just laughed &amp; said, “Oh, bold of you to assume I can feel pain the same way as you boys!” </p><p>“What do you mean by that?!” Rob questioned, trying to yank his axe out of The Auctioneer’s grasp. <br/>“Being a deathly cold person can really heighten your strength to sharp objects, lemme tell ya!” <br/>“...what the hell are you talkin’ about?” Joe scoffed. <br/>“C’mon, feel my hand &amp; you’ll see exactly what I’m talkin’ about!”</p><p>So, Rob took one of his hands &amp; used it to feel The Auctioneer’s. It was absolutely freezing! “Holy shit! How are you THAT cold?!” Rob asked in shock. The Auctioneer grinned. “It’s a very long story, but let’s just say I’ve been stuck in a surplus amount of freezers in my time!” they chuckled as they grasped Rob’s wrist &amp; flung him across the room. </p><p>“WOAH!” the yellow-tied boy screamed, hitting the wall &amp; falling down. “Ow..” he muttered.</p><p>“Rob! Are you alright?!” Zubin yelled out.<br/>“I.. I’ll be fine! I hope!” Rob responded, taking one of his hands &amp; putting it on the back of his head. “My head hurts like hell now, though…” “Don’t worry, Robby! I’ve got this!” the blue-tied boy grinned, running on over behind The Auctioneer &amp; shooting him in the back with his magic wand a couple of times. Since Zubin was behind The Auctioneer, he was unable to avoid the magic, &amp; therefore got hit a little bit in the back. “OW!” he screeched, turning around &amp; seeing Zubin standing there with a smug look on his face. </p><p>“Oh, you-” the Auctioneer started, but they were unable to finish his sentence when Joe used his extended microphone to whack The Auctioneer in the back of their head, actually knocking him out this time. “Nice job, Joe!” Zubin smiled, giving him a thumbs up. “Thanks.” Joe responded, un-extending his microphone. </p><p>&amp; so, Tally Hall (&amp; Steve, of course. He helped too!) had saved the day once again! Andrew, Steve, &amp; Ross (shortly after the others had knocked out The Auctioneer, Ross had left the storage closet he was in &amp; helped Andy &amp; Steve get the metal plate out of the way) thankfully got the metal plate away from the door before the firefighters arrived, while Joe, Rob, &amp; Zubin stood guard around The Auctioneer just to make sure he didn’t get up before his arrest.</p><p>The firefighters arrived right before The Auctioneer woke up, &amp; promptly arrested them &amp; left as The Auctioneer just sighed, seemingly accepting his destiny. The boys looked at each other, feeling accomplished. All of them (except for Steve) pulled on their ties &amp; switched back to their regular normal outfits. </p><p>“Whew, I’m glad THAT’S over with.” Andrew grinned. <br/>“Me too.” Joe sighed with relief. “We should probably call up Bora &amp; get ready for practice today, huh?”<br/>“Wait, are we actually gonna practice today too?”<br/>“I mean, we don’t wanna LIE to Bora, do we?”<br/>“No, we don’t.”<br/>“Ooh! Can I come to practice too?”<br/>“You’re not in the band, Steve. Remember?”<br/>“Oh. Well, I’ll just do villain things then!”<br/>“Please don’t do villain things-”</p><p>Steve had already run off with his squeaky hammer in hand, grinning. “Smell ya later, imbeciles! Haha!” With that, Steve Gallagher had run off, presumably to do crime. But the boys weren’t too worried about that. They had fought enough evil for the day, &amp; so they relaxed &amp; walked home as Rob called up Bora.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. The Marionette Quintet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A couple of weeks after the incident at the Auction House, the boys decide they want to make a music video for one of their songs: Banana Man. So, they go to visit a puppet shop that just opened up recently &amp; meet Alph, the boy who owns the shop. They also end up meeting 5 of Alph's greatest puppets: Allama, Islo, Canul, Wyndo, &amp; Sotry, which make the boys feel uneasy. Are the boys about to get into some trouble defeating these puppets, or is it just something creepy?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>uhughuhgh i cant think of anything just enjoy the chapter &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a couple weeks since the incident at the Auction House, &amp; Tally Hall had been doing business as normal: going to their classes, working on songs with Bora, &amp; fighting evil. Well, there was nobody to fight for the most part, besides Steve, who was just out &amp; about occasionally stealing things &amp; committing vandalism in the alleyways. </p><p>Other than that, though, there was no evil for them to fight. That is, until they met Alph. </p><p>The boys were in Andrew’s dorm room, working on some songs. They had already written about 3 songs, 2 of which were about Pim &amp; The Auctioneer respectively (which they have called “Banana Man” &amp; “The Bidding”).</p><p>They were just working on the songs in silence when Ross suddenly got an idea. “Oh! Guys! I just got an idea!” he exclaimed.</p><p>“What’s the idea?”<br/>“Y’know how most artists &amp; bands have, like, music videos for their songs, right?”<br/>“Are you suggesting we make a music video?”<br/>“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting!” <br/>“That’s a great idea, Ross-”<br/>“We don’t have the budget for a music video.”<br/>“We don’t have the budget for a high-quality music video. Not all music videos have to be filmed like an Oscar-winning movie, y’know.”<br/>“...that’s fair.”<br/>“So.. uh… what could we make a music video for?”<br/>“I mean, we’ve only got like… 3 songs. There’s not a lot of options.”<br/>“I was thinking we could do Banana Man maybe?”<br/>“Maybe…”<br/>“Yea, we could do Banana Man!” <br/>“What would the music video be about though?”<br/>“I don’t know… I was thinking we could get some puppets for it though-”<br/>“Oh! That reminds me! There’s this new puppet shop that opened up recently! We could go there!” <br/>“There’s been a lot of new stores opening up lately, huh?”<br/>“There has… but puppets are cool! C’mon, let’s go!”<br/>“Wait- right NOW?!”<br/>“Of course!”</p><p>So, the boys grabbed their wallets &amp; left Andrew’s room. The quickest way to get down to ground level &amp; exit the dorm building was to go down the elevator, &amp; so that’s what they did. They hopped into the elevator &amp; selected the floor they were gonna go to. The elevator doors closed &amp; started going down. </p><p>“So, where’s this new puppet store anyway?” Rob asked, taking out his phone &amp; opening up Google Maps. <br/>“Here, let me type it in- woAH!”</p><p>Ross was in the middle of grabbing Rob’s phone to type in the address of the puppet store when he saw that shadow creature again. The others turned around &amp; saw the shadow. “What the hell?!” Joe yelped. “That thing’s back again!”</p><p>“Well? Someone talk to it before it disappears again!”</p><p>Ross sighed &amp; faced the shadow creature in the elevator. “Uh.. hey!” he waved at the creature. The creature, even though it didn’t have eyes, seemed like it was staring straight into Ross’s eyes. He felt a little creeped out by it.</p><p>“you… you shouldn’t be able to see me.. how can you see me?” the figure whispered, with a curious tone in its voice. </p><p>“Well, I’m not sure why we can see you, or why we can only see you in this elevator, but I suppose there’s no reason why we can’t be friends.” Rob grinned. “Very nice to meet you, my name’s Rob,” he said, gesturing to himself. “That’s Joe, that’s Ross, that’s Andrew, &amp; that’s Zubin.” Rob finished introducing the boys. “Now, uh, do you have a name?” Andrew asked.</p><p>“...i have no name, but… i do have advice. watch out for B-”</p><p>Before the shadow figure could finish its sentence, the elevator doors opened up, &amp; it vanished. “...Well, that’s menacing!” Zubin said, exiting the elevator with the others. “Wonder who we’re s’posed to watch out for.” Ross sighed. “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s not worry about it!” Joe said. “We gotta get to that puppet store anyway.” “Yea, the puppet store! Where’s that supposed to be, anyway?” </p><p>“Oh, yea, hold on, let me type in the address.”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>“There we go! That oughta fix ya up pretty well!” </p><p>A boy was in a dimly-lit storage room, filled with cans of paint, building materials, &amp; 5 life-sized puppets standing in a horizontal line. The puppets were all different colors. One was gray, one was red, one was green, one was yellow, &amp; one was blue. All of the puppets’ eyes were closed as well. They weren’t on. The boy was repairing the green puppet, the one in the middle of the line. It had burn marks all over its arm, but that was an easy fix. </p><p>“I ain’t sure how you got all those scorch marks on ya, but please make sure it doesn’t happen again, a’ight?” the boy said with a strong southern accent. “Now, I gotta go out front, ok? Gotta see if there’s any customers! Bye-bye for now!” she waved, exiting the storage room.</p><p>As soon as he left the room, the green life-sized puppet opened its eyes. The puppet’s eyes were glowing green, lighting up the dark storage room by just a tiny amount. The puppet chuckled to itself with a robotic-esqe voice. “Oh, how I cannot wait until the whole world’s mine…” the puppet sighed. </p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>“Look, all I’m saying is that ‘Wheels On the Bus’ is a metaphor for-”<br/>“It’s a children’s song! There’s no secret metaphor to it, Rob!” <br/>“Guys, we’re here!”</p><p>The boys had arrived at the puppet store. At the top of the building was a sign that said “Alph’s Amazing Animatronics (&amp; puppets)!”, so that was probably what the store was called. “Well, let’s hope there’s no capitalist bananas in this store!” Zubin chuckled as they all got out of the car &amp; headed inside the building. </p><p>The inside of the store was small. It wasn’t too cramped for the most part, but it was very small. There were shelves all across the walls (well, the walls that didn’t have windows, anyway) &amp; on top of the shelves were puppets a-plenty. At the counter was a boy with short, light purple hair, &amp; purple eyes. He wore a blue shirt with a white apron over it, with some light green paint on his hands &amp; apron. </p><p>“Oh! Uh- hey!” the boy waved. “The name’s Alph! Welcome to my shop!”</p><p>The boy seemed pretty friendly for the most part. “Hey, nice to meet you!” Ross smiled. “Nice ta meet you folk as well!” Alph grinned. “So, whaddya here for?” she asked. </p><p>“Well, uh, we’re here to get some puppets for a music video we’re planning on making.” Andrew explained.<br/>“Oh, a music video! Well, I’ve got the perfect thing for ya-”</p><p>Just as Alph was reaching for a couple of puppets, there was a banging noise from what the boys assumed was the storage closet. “What was that noise?” Zubin questioned. “Oh, that must be my children!” Alph said, rushing on over to the storage closet.</p><p>“Why are your kids in a storage closet? That’s… concerning.”<br/>“They’re no ordinary children, you see…” the boy chuckled. He opened up the door to reveal a green life-sized puppet standing at the door, &amp; the other 4 puppets standing right behind it. “They’re puppets!”</p><p>The boys stood in shock as the puppets exited the room &amp; formed a line. “...puppets?” Joe questioned, confused.</p><p>“Yup! My little Marionette Quintet, as I like ta call them! They ain’t very little, though. They’re meant to be performer puppets, but these guys ain’t ready for that yet. So, they just stay in the closet fa now!” Alph grinned. “They always get inta trouble, though. Not sure how they do it.”</p><p>“Well.. uh… that’s neat!” Rob chuckled. “Do they have names?”<br/>“Why, of course! Here, lemme introduce y’all to ‘em!”</p><p>The purple-haired boy cleared her throat as she started introducing the puppets. “This is Wyndo, spelled W-Y-N-D-O!” he said, pointing to the gray puppet. The puppet had short, dark gray hair &amp; gray mechanical eyes. It had a gray bowtie tied around its neck &amp; it “wore” a white long-sleeved shirt, which the boys assumed was just wood or some other material painted to be white. The pants of the puppet was probably the same thing, except it was dark gray. The shoes of the puppet was some metal spray-painted to be a dark blue. The puppet’s “skin color” was a light pink, &amp; its cheeks &amp; nose were a slightly darker shade of pink. </p><p>“Here’s Islo, spelled I-S-L-O,” Alph continued, pointing to a similar yet different red puppet. Islo’s appearance was quite similar to Wyndo’s, except instead of gray &amp; pink, it was various shades of red. The only notable difference was its hair, which was longer &amp; messier than the first puppet’s hair was. </p><p>“Then, there’s Allama, spelled A-L-L-A-M-A,” he said, completely skipping over the green puppet in the middle &amp; moving on to the yellow puppet beside it. Just like the first two puppets, Allama’s appearance was similar, except it was yellow. The yellow puppet’s hair was shorter than Wyndo’s &amp; Islo’s, &amp; it was neater as well.</p><p>“Next up, there’s Canul! Spelled C-A-N-U-L!” she pointed at the blue puppet next to Allama. Once again, Canul was very similar to all the other puppets, except it was blue. Its hair was roughly the same length as Islo’s, if not longer, but it was way less messier than the red one’s hair. </p><p>“Last but certainly not least, we have the star of the show, Sotry!! Spelled S-O-T-R-Y!” Alph grinned, pointing to the green puppet in the middle. Sotry’s appearance was very similar to the others, except, of course, it was green. Its hair was longer than Allama’s, but shorter than Wyndo’s, &amp; it was a little messy but not too much. As the boys looked at Sotry, though, something felt… off about the puppet. Unlike the other 4 puppets, the boys felt Sotry might be alive. </p><p>But that was a silly feeling to have. It was a puppet! What kind of puppet would gain sentience like that? </p><p>“Those are.. uh… nice puppets!” Andrew chuckled nervously, giving Alph a thumbs up. <br/>“Why, thank ya! Thank ya very much!” Alph nodded, turning to the puppets. “Now, get yaselves back in the storage closet!”</p><p>The puppets turned around &amp; walked back into the storage closet in the same order they were introduced. Wyndo entered first, then Islo, then Allama, then Canul, &amp; finally Sotry. As Alph went to close the door, the boys could see Sotry staring at them. It gave them all chills. </p><p>“So, you boys said ya needed some puppets for ya music video, right?” Alph asked, shutting the storage closet door. “Oh- uh, yea! Puppets! For the music video!” Zubin said. “You said you had some puppets for us, right?” “Indeed, I did!”</p><p>Alph walked on over to a shelf &amp; grabbed a couple of boxes. “Here, look through those &amp; see if you can find anythin’ ya want!” </p><p>Ross opened up the boxes. In the first box, there were 5 wooden puppets that looked like birds. In the second box contained another 5 puppets. These puppets were wooden, &amp; had little bowties on them. They were all different colors. One was white, one was pink, one was brown, one was teal, &amp; one was purple. </p><p>“So, uh, which one do you guys wanna get?”<br/>“I like both boxes, honestly.”<br/>“Yea, same here. The birds are cool, but I also like the little guys in there. They’re neat.”<br/>“I mean… I suppose we could get both.”<br/>“Both it is, then!”</p><p>Ross closed the boxes &amp; looked at Alph. “We’re buying both of the boxes!” “Oh, that is absolutely fantastic! That’ll be $30!” the purple-haired boy beamed. Rob took out his wallet &amp; handed Alph two $20 bills. “Keep the change.” he grinned. </p><p>“Gosh, I just- I wanna thank y’all. I wanna thank y’all for comin’ over to the shop &amp; buyin’ some of my puppets! I mean, I don’t usually get a lotta business here since it’s a new shop, &amp; I- I’m just really grateful that y’all are here, y’know?” Alph chuckled, slipping the two $20 bills into the cash register. </p><p>“Well, I’m glad we could come &amp; visit.” Joe said, stretching. “Have a nice day!” Andrew waved as the boys left the puppet store. “You too!” Alph smiled.</p><p>The boys hopped back into the car as the buckled up their seatbelts &amp; Joe started driving back to the dorm building. “...don’t you guys think it was kinda weird that those puppets had the exact same color as our ties?” Andrew asked. “Now that you say that.. that WAS kinda freaky. Not to mention, that green one was staring at us, almost like it was alive. What was its name again? Sotry?” Joe shivered. “I don’t like it.”</p><p>“Me neither. I wonder if those puppets are something we’ll have to fight, like Banana Man &amp; The Auctioneer.”<br/>“Maybe… I wouldn’t want to destroy that guy’s puppets, though. He seemed proud of them.”<br/>“Well, yea, but what if they’re evil?”<br/>“I guess we’ll have to find a way to defeat them without destroying them, then, if they really are evil.”</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>The storage room was dark. All of the puppets’ eyes were closed, except for Sotry’s. The green puppet turned around to face his fellow puppets. Sotry kneeled down, its wooden limbs creaking as it poked Allama in the face. “Wake up.” Sotry demanded, in its robotic voice. </p><p>The yellow puppet opened its eyes, the pupils glowing a bright yellow. The other puppets awoke as well. “What is it this time?” Allama sighed as Sotry stood up straight again. “You all noticed those charms on those boys’ necklaces, right?” the green puppet questioned, glaring at the other 4 puppets.</p><p>“Well, yea,” Islo groaned in its robotic voice, “but what does that have to do with anything?”<br/>“Those charms have the same colors as us.”<br/>“...you’re right. They were yellow, red, gray, green, &amp; blue. Just like us.” Canul pointed out. “Thank you, Canul, for restating my point. You all understand what’s happening here, right?” Sotry asked, tapping his foot impatiently. “Not really,” Wyndo raised its hand. “What is this supposed to mean?”</p><p>Sotry sighed as best as a puppet could sigh. “It means that we must enact our plan for world domination as fast as we possibly can.” the green puppet explained. “We must sway the people into adoring us, &amp; right when nobody expects it, we take power over the world, its animals, &amp; its people.” </p><p>The other puppets nodded. “Allama, you do have the posters, correct?” Sotry requested. “Of course,” the yellow puppet responded, pulling out a large stack of posters. </p><p>“Good,” Sotry chuckled a robotic laugh. “then let’s begin.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Posters of a Puppet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Andrew is watching the news on an early Wednesday morning when he noticed something peculiar: the news were talking about some posters around town that had the face of the same puppet the boys saw the day before. It was alive, &amp; it wanted to run for president. Will Andrew &amp; the others be able to stop Sotry, or will he &amp; his puppet gang take over the whole world?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>uhuhh slight food mention but that should be it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was an early Wednesday morning. Andrew awoke to the beeping of his alarm clock, groaning as he got up &amp; looking at the time. 8:45 am, the time he usually got up on Wednesdays. His class started at 12:30 pm, so he had time to get dressed, relax, &amp; check the news. </p><p>He grabbed his phone from his nightstand, opened it up, &amp; checked what was trending on Twitter. It was nothing new, just some people getting the word “liev” trending for no reason. He set his phone down &amp; sighed. “Maybe the actual news would have something interesting.”</p><p>Andrew got out of bed &amp; entered the living room. He grabbed the TV remote on the coffee table &amp; turned on the TV. The news had just started playing.</p><p>“Good morning, Michigan! Today we have some extraordinary news for you. Citizens have been finding posters all around town for a political campaign to be the ruler of the world ran by a ‘Mr. Sotry.’” On the TV screen, the news showed an image of the poster next to the news reporter’s face. The poster had a picture of the green puppet Andrew &amp; the others had seen yesterday at the puppet store. Next to the puppet was some text that read “No one’s better than YOU!”, with the “YOU” part underlined. At the bottom, it read “Vote SOTRY for president of the world today!”</p><p> “Our team is currently investigating the source of the posters, but none have been found yet.” the news reporter stated. </p><p>Upon hearing this on the news, Andrew just sighed. “...so that puppet is alive, isn’t it? &amp; it wants to rule the world?” He went to his room to grab his phone. “I’ll have to tell the others, then, &amp; we’ll need to find a way to stop it from… uh… becoming a politician, I guess.”</p><p>So, Andrew started texting the group chat.</p><p>“Hey, you guys remember those puppets we saw yesterday, right?”<br/>“You mean those creepy bitches at the puppet store? I remember those. Unfortunately.”<br/>“I think the green one wants to take over the world.”<br/>“It what.”<br/>“Yea, it was on the news. People have been finding posters about it around town.”<br/>“There’s only one thing we can do, then…”<br/>“We’re not destroying the puppets, Joe.”<br/>“That’s not what I was gonna say! My idea was to destroy the POSTERS!”<br/>“Ah, that’s a better idea, actually.”<br/>“So, when are we gonna go destroy those posters?”<br/>“Right now!”<br/>“Right now?! We’re in class!”<br/>“Well, I can get started on destroying the posters. My class doesn’t start until 12:30 anyway.”<br/>“Good luck, Andy!”<br/>“Yea, good luck. That puppet guy would destroy us if it saw us destroying its posters.”</p><p>&amp; so, Andrew slipped his phone into his pocket &amp; left his dorm room. “Now, if I was a poster with a puppet on it, where would I be..?” he thought to himself as he clicked the down button on the elevator. The elevator doors opened up, &amp; he stepped in. The doors closed &amp; the elevator started going down. Andrew was hoping he’d see that shadow creature in the elevator again, but it unfortunately didn’t appear.</p><p>After a minute or so, the elevator doors opened up again at the main lobby, &amp; there on the wall in front of Andrew stood one of the posters, with a tiny circle seemingly made of metal above it. “Oh, well, that was easy.” he sighed, walking over to the poster &amp; ripping it off of the wall &amp; tearing it apart. “One down, at least a couple dozen more to go!” Andrew grinned, throwing the ripped-up poster in the trash can &amp; exiting the dorm building. </p><p>“If we’re thinking about this logically, then the posters would probably be in public places, like the park or a library.” Andrew sighed, hopping into his car. “&amp; so, it’s to the park we go!” </p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>The puppets were slouching in the storage closet. It was awfully dusty in there, because Alph had been in the closet sanding some wood for some other puppets she planned on making. But now Alph was out of the store, buying paints because he had ran out of some. &amp; that leaves Sotry, Allama, Islo, Canul, &amp; Wyndo un-supervised for the time being.</p><p>Sotry blinked his eyes a couple times &amp; looked around the room. He was leaning against the door of the storage closet. All of the other puppets in the room weren’t on, aside from Allama, who had somehow sneaked an old laptop into the closet. The laptop was in the yellow puppet’s lap, &amp; it was watching the screen intently. Sotry noticed that it seemed a little off.</p><p>“How are the posters doing?” the green puppet asked, inching over to Allama. <br/>“Someone’s tearing them up, one by one.” the yellow puppet responded, its voice glitching out a tiny bit. </p><p>The night before, Allama &amp; Canul had set out to place the posters around the city. As Allama placed the posters, Canul placed a red, tiny, metal “button” above it. These “buttons” were miniature security cameras, designed to secretly watch things. That’s why Allama had the laptop.</p><p>“...what do you mean someone’s tearing up the posters?” Sotry asked. “Look,” Allama said, pointing at one of the squares on the screen. It was live footage of someone tearing up one of the posters at the park. “The first one he tore up was at the apartment buildings. Now he’s at the park.” the yellow puppet sighed. Sotry looked at the person tearing up the poster for a minute or so. It noticed something… familiar about the person. </p><p>“Allama. Look at that person again. Do you notice anything familiar about him?” Sotry demanded. Allama took another glance at the person. “I don’t really see anything-” “He has a necklace, Allama!” the green puppet shouted. “The necklace we saw on those boys yesterday! They’re the same!!”</p><p>“Oh- you’re right.” Allama exclaimed, its robotic voice squeaking a little bit. “Those boys are going to stop us if we don’t do anything about it.” Sotry uttered, blinking its eyes a couple times. “We need to-”</p><p>“I’m BACK!!!” </p><p>The puppets could hear Alph’s voice from the main room of the shop as he entered the store. “Oh sh- hide the laptop &amp; shut yourself off!” Sotry sighed. Allama quickly shut off the laptop, slid it under a table, &amp; powered off. Sotry did the same thing, powering itself off. Well, it pretended to power itself off, anyway. There was only one thought in its wooden mind as it laid completely still on the ground. </p><p>Power.</p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>It was a little windy outside, but Andrew didn’t mind it that much. In fact, it felt quite relaxing to him. However, he would have to get back in his car soon. He had almost finished tearing up all of the papers in the park. After he was done there, he’d have to go to the library. Chances are there’d be more posters there. As Andrew grabbed the final poster in the park &amp; tore it apart, he heard a familiar voice behind him. </p><p>“Andrew? What are you… doing?” </p><p>Andrew quickly turned around &amp; saw Bora standing behind him, with a grocery bag in his hands &amp; a confused look on his face. “Bora?! Uh- what brings you here.. to the park… at this time of day?” Andrew asked, rolling up the teared-up poster into a ball in his hands. “I could ask you the same thing. I was just out for a walk after buying some food at the farmer’s market.”</p><p>“Ah, cool. What’d you get at the farmer’s market?” Andrew asked, desperately attempting to change the topic.<br/>“I got some marbled rye.”<br/>“Neat.”</p><p>It was silent for a few seconds. Then, Bora asked, “So, why are you tearing up posters?” </p><p>Andrew’s attempt to change the subject away from the posters had failed, but as long as he could keep the topic of being magical heroes out of the conversation (because the boys haven’t told Bora about the whole hero thing yet), then it’d be fine! </p><p>“Uh, well… it was on the news, &amp; y’know.. doesn’t someone wanting to be the president of the world sound sketchy to you?” Andrew questioned, tossing the ball of the torn-up poster into a nearby trashcan. “I mean… you’ve got a point.” Bora responded. “Being the president of the world sounds like too much power for 1 person.” “Exactly! So, uh, that’s why I’m tearing up these posters.” Andrew chuckled. “Well, that makes sense.” Bora said. “So, I’ll see you &amp; the others tomorrow for practice, right?” “Right! See ya!”</p><p>Andrew quickly slipped away to his car, hopped into the driver’s seat, &amp; checked the time. It was 12:15 pm. “Oh, shi- I gotta get to class!” Andrew muttered, quickly turning on his car &amp; driving to class. </p><p>.<br/>.<br/>.</p><p>Rob, Ross, &amp; Zubin entered the library, looking around. Even though the 3 of them were in different classes, they all got out of class around the same time, &amp; so they decided to head on over to the local library to look around for posters to tear up. </p><p>“It’s nice in here.” Ross grinned. &amp; he was right, the library on campus was always relaxing. “Yeah, libraries are relaxing!” Zubin chuckled. “We should visit this place more often. Might be nice for writing music.” “It wouldn’t be nice for actually playing music, though.” Rob said, spotting a poster on the wall. “Well, we might get to perform here someday!” Ross mentioned as Rob grabbed the poster from the wall &amp; tore it up. “You really think a library of all places would let us perform our music?” Rob asked, throwing the now torn-up poster into a trash can. “Well, I can hope, can’t I?” </p><p>“He’s got a point, Robby.” <br/>“I thought I told you not to call me Robby.” <br/>“Ah- my bad. Sorry, Robster.”<br/>“...that’s somehow worse.”<br/>“I quite like the nickname, honestly. Rhymes with lobster.”<br/>“It also rhymes with lobster!”<br/>“Robster the mobster lobster! That’s got a ring to it, right?”<br/>“Don’t call me ‘Robster the mobster lobster’ ever again, please.”<br/>“Heh, sorry, Rob-”<br/>“I’m making it your contact name in my phone.”<br/>“Oh, please don’t do that-”<br/>“Too late! Haha!”<br/>“Well. Nothin’ I can do about that.” Rob sighed as Ross tore up a poster. <br/>“Now you’re gonna be known as ‘Robster the mobster lobster’ in Zubin’s phone forever! How do you feel about that?” Ross asked, jokingly. <br/>“As long as the others don’t find out about it, it’s fine.” Rob shrugged, tearing up another poster. <br/>“Don’t worry, Robathan, your secrets of being an italian crustacean are safe with us!”<br/>“Robathan? Really?”<br/>“Yea! It’s like Jonathan, but Rob-style!”<br/>“Y’know what? I’ll take it.”</p><p>So, the boys continued going around the library tearing up posters &amp; throwing them away! This lasted for a couple of hours, but the time went by so fast they barely even noticed it until Ross got a text. “Oh, it’s Steve!” he said, checking the text. “Why do you have Steve as a contact anyway?” Rob asked. “We’re working on a project together in our class. It’s an easy way to contact him- oh…” “What’s up?”</p><p>The others took a glance at Ross’s phone. It was just some texts back &amp; forth between Steve &amp; Ross, but only one was peculiar to them: the most recent one. It was a text from Steve that was sent just a minute ago (at 2:14 pm), &amp; it read “Class might be cancelled tomorrow, there’s these puppet things all over campus causing chaos.”</p><p>“What the hell?!”<br/>“Do you think they’re the same puppets that we saw at the puppet store?”<br/>“I wouldn’t doubt it. Let me send Steve a quick text, hold on.”</p><p>Ross quickly typed in “Where are the puppets right now?” &amp; sent the text to Steve. “It’s 2:16, so at this point, Andrew &amp; Joe would be out of class.”</p><p>“Yea, we could call them up if it’s anything dangerous.”<br/>“It’s PUPPETS - potentially life sized puppets - destroying CAMPUS. Of COURSE it’s dangerous, Rob!” <br/>“Touché.”<br/>“Oh, he responded!” </p><p>The boys looked at the text. “Last I heard, they were in the music hall.”</p><p>“The music hall? Isn’t that where Andrew &amp; Joe are?”<br/>“Well, Joe’s class today ended at 1:30, chances are he’s far from the music hall right now.”<br/>“Andrew could still be there, though! You know how long it takes to get out of the music hall!” <br/>“Eh, you’ve got a point.”<br/>“Eh? What are you, canadian?”<br/>“Guys, we can’t just stand here &amp; talk about the canadians! We gotta get to the music hall! We need a plan.”<br/>“Well… do we have a plan?”<br/>“I do. Zubes, you call Andy. After you call Andrew, or if he doesn’t answer, call Joe. We need to find Andy &amp; Joe as fast as possible, &amp; we don’t even know what the situation is at the music hall besides the fact that the puppets are in there!”<br/>“What about the rest of us?”<br/>“Well… we’re RUNNING! RUNNING TO THE MUSIC HALL!” Ross exclaimed as he pulled on his tie necklace &amp; started running to the exit of the library. </p><p>“Hey, wait up!” Rob yelled, running after Ross &amp; also pulling on his tie necklace. <br/>“Yea- wait! I still need to call Andrew!!” Zubin called out, pulling on his tie necklace, &amp; simultaneously running &amp; dialing Andrew at the same time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello i spent pretty much all weekend on this first chapter hope u liked it :D thats all i wanted 2 say have a nice day</p></blockquote></div></div>
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